The census blind spot: The Gujjars & Bakarwals of Jammu & Kashmir

India’s ongoing Census exercise is often described as the backbone of democratic planning. It determines how governments allocate resources, design welfare schemes, plan infrastructure, and understand the social realities of the nation. But while the Census aims to count every citizen, a serious challenge emerges in Jammu & Kashmir, where thousands of Gujjar and Bakarwal families are on the move during the very months enumeration is being conducted.

For these communities, summer is not a season of staying home; it is the season of migration. Every year, as temperatures rise in the plains, Gujjar and Bakarwal families begin their traditional transhumance — the centuries-old seasonal migration from the lower Himalayan regions of Jammu toward the alpine pastures of Kashmir and the Pir Panjal ranges.

Entire families travel with livestock across forests, mountain passes, and remote grazing routes in search of greener pastures. During this journey, many remain far from permanent settlements, roads, and administrative centers. It is precisely this movement that now risks turning a large tribal population into a statistically invisible community.

• Understanding the Internal Structure of the Community

The Gujjar and Bakarwal community of Jammu & Kashmir is internally divided into settled Gujjars, half-settled Gujjars, and nomadic groups including Dodhi Gujjars and Bakarwals. While settled Gujjars mostly engage in agriculture, the nomadic Bakarwals and semi-settled groups migrate seasonally with livestock toward the alpine pastures of the Pir Panjal and Kashmir Himalayas. This migratory lifestyle creates serious challenges during Census operations, as thousands of families remain in remote dhoks, forests, and upper mountain regions during enumeration.

The impact of this exclusion was visible during the 2011 Census, when the Gujjar-Bakarwal population was officially recorded at 14,93,299, constituting nearly 11.90 percent of Jammu & Kashmir’s population and making them the third-largest community of the Union Territory. However, tribal organizations and community representatives argued that the actual population was close to 34 lakh, claiming that a large number of nomadic families remained uncounted because they were undertaking seasonal migration during the Census period. Even today, the overlap between transhumance and Census activities continues to threaten the accurate representation of this tribal community.

• A Community Defined by Movement

The Gujjars and Bakarwals are among the most significant tribal communities of Jammu & Kashmir and were granted Scheduled Tribe status in 1991. While many Gujjars have gradually adopted semi-settled lifestyles, the Bakarwals continue to preserve a nomadic pastoral culture deeply connected with seasonal migration.

Their transhumance is not random wandering, as it is sometimes misunderstood in mainstream discourse. It is an organized ecological system shaped by generations of environmental knowledge, climatic adaptation, and livestock management. Families migrate with sheep, goats, horses, and cattle through fixed routes that have historically sustained both their livelihoods and the fragile Himalayan ecosystem. For them, migration is not merely an occupation — it is identity, economy, tradition, and survival combined.

• The Census Challenge in the High Himalayas

The problem arises because Census operations and migratory movement overlap almost simultaneously. As Census officials conduct house-listing and population enumeration in villages and towns, thousands of tribal families are already crossing into upper Himalayan regions such as Pir Panjal, Sonamarg, Gurez, Lidder Valley, and other alpine meadows. Many temporary settlements exist in locations that are difficult to access even under normal conditions.

This creates a fundamental administrative challenge: how does the State count people who are constantly moving across districts, forests, and mountainous terrains?

In many cases, entire households may not be available at their winter residences when enumerators visit. At the same time, they may also remain inaccessible in their summer locations due to difficult terrain, poor communication networks, and lack of coordinated field outreach. The result can be partial enumeration, duplication, or complete omission.

• Digital Census, But Limited Digital Access

India’s proposed digital Census model introduces another layer of complexity. The government has emphasized technology-driven enumeration, including online self-enumeration facilities and digital data collection systems. While this may improve efficiency in urban India, such mechanisms remain difficult for remote nomadic communities.

Large sections of the Gujjar-Bakarwal population continue to face challenges related to digital literacy, internet connectivity, electricity access, smartphone availability, and online documentation systems. Their migratory routes often pass through dense forest zones and high-altitude regions where communication infrastructure is weak or nonexistent. Expecting tribal families camping in alpine meadows to access digital Census platforms reflects a gap between policy imagination and ground realities.

• Why Undercounting Matters

The consequences of Census exclusion are far more serious than missing numbers on a government form. Census data shapes public policy. It influences educational planning, healthcare distribution, welfare funding, reservation implementation, infrastructure development, and political representation. If nomadic populations remain undercounted, they risk becoming underrepresented in governance and development planning.

For the Gujjar-Bakarwal community, this issue directly affects access to tribal welfare schemes, mobile schools, scholarships, healthcare outreach, and livelihood support systems. Inaccurate population data can weaken future policy demands and reduce the visibility of already marginalized groups. The implications become even more significant in the context of future delimitation exercises and governance restructuring, where demographic data carries political weight.

• The Burden on Women and Children

The impact of Census exclusion is often felt most deeply by women and children within nomadic communities. Children already struggle with interrupted education because migration frequently disrupts school attendance. Women, especially those living in temporary mountain shelters, often remain disconnected from healthcare and welfare services. If Census records fail to accurately capture these populations, the delivery of essential services becomes even weaker. The absence of proper enumeration can therefore deepen existing inequalities rather than reduce them.

• A Sedentary System Trying to Count a Mobile Civilization

At its core, the issue reflects a larger structural problem: modern administrative systems are designed around fixed habitation, while nomadic communities survive through movement. The State often defines citizenship through permanent addresses, fixed housing, and static settlements. But for the Bakarwals, home is seasonal and mobile. Their social and economic life moves along migratory routes shaped by geography and climate.

A Census framework that fails to adapt to this reality unintentionally excludes communities whose lives do not fit within conventional bureaucratic categories.

• What the Government Must Do

If India truly wishes to conduct an inclusive Census, it must design special mechanisms for migratory populations instead of expecting nomadic communities to fit into sedentary administrative systems.

The government must deploy mobile Census teams along migratory routes and ensure coordination between district administrations that fall along migration corridors. Tribal leaders, forest officials, local volunteers, and mobile school teachers should be involved in the process to help identify and document tribal families in remote locations. Temporary enumeration camps must be established in alpine regions, while flexible timelines should be introduced for migratory populations. Offline data collection systems are equally important because many grazing areas remain outside network coverage. The administration must also map seasonal settlements and migratory clusters to ensure that no tribal family is left undocumented.

Most importantly, the Census process must be guided by cultural understanding rather than administrative convenience.

• Counting Every Citizen Means Reaching Every Citizen

The Gujjar-Bakarwal community has historically contributed to the ecological and cultural fabric of the Himalayas through sustainable pastoral traditions and deep environmental knowledge. Yet they continue to remain socially and institutionally marginalized.

The Census is not merely a statistical exercise; it is an act of recognition. Communities that remain absent from official records often remain absent from policy priorities as well. India cannot claim to count every citizen while failing to reach those living beyond roads, networks, and permanent settlements. Democracy must climb the mountains too. Only then will the Census truly become a reflection of all Indians — including those whose lives are defined not by staying in one place, but by moving with the seasons.

(The author can be reached at shahidhakla360@gmail.com)