Help Us Shoot A Documentary Showcasing The Jad Bhotiya | Milaap
Help Us Shoot A Documentary Showcasing The Jad Bhotiya Community
  • AJ

    Created by

    Ayush Joshi
  • TF

    This fundraiser will benefit

    The Filmmakers and the communities involved

    from Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand

I am a spiritual seeker by practice and an Environmental Engineer by profession, has invested 12 year of his time in bringing environmental justice in the Ganga Himalayan catchment of the Uttarakhand, Hindukush Himalayas.
He has been Indulged into solution oriented paradigm shift towards a minimalistic lifestyle, innovation towards current waste problems in the Hills, Advocacy towards sustainable development in the migration led Hilltown, devepment of rural youth and training youth in general towards solution driven wholesome development.
He is a consultant and a citizen scientist working on various real life problems for the social betterment of the underprivileged to handover the baton of a greener and wholesome life for the future generations to pursue.

Is currently working with a Community of Jad Bhotiyas, “Historically the Community belonged to Nelang and Jadong valley of the upper catchment of Uttarakhand
Himalayas towards the Gangotri region of Uttarkashi near Tibet border before the Indo-sino war(1962).
The community later was displaced to Bagori and Dunda villages in Uttarkashi owing to the aftermath of the INDO
SINO War of 1962, they are known to be a transhimalayan community and exhibit transhumant behavior due to the
fact that in the past they use to travel and migrate to dif erent countries majorly for the purpose of trade and
attachment with the Buddhist Culture and thus Tibet. Interestingly they have one Indian and one Tibetan name till
date which is common in their present generation. Due to unprecedented time, lack of means for livelihood and very
limited aid from the administration even after 59 years of settlement.
After the traumatic displacement from their original home and change in climate and land, they are now at a verge of
losing well maintained Cultural Ecosystem (Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES) are the non-material benefits
people obtain from nature. They include recreation, aesthetic enjoyment, physical and mental health benefits and spiritual
experiences. They contribute to a sense of place, foster social cohesion and are essential for human health and
well-being)
Dzad, before being rendered of from their roots were usually involved in multiple livelihood means ranging from
trading Salt (pre-colonial communities were dependent on Himalayan Salts, later sea salt became common), Coal,
Bauxite, jewels, Ornaments, Himalayan herbs, and wool, wool is one of the limited sources of livelihood in present
date. People from south Asian Countries such as Afghanistan, Tibet, China, Kazakhstan, Pakistan,
Balochistan, etc used to travel to Bara hat (Now Uttarkashi) using the famous Silk Route and trade in Barahat. Alas,
post their settlement in Bagori and Dunda, there is a very little source of livelihood for them except for animal
husbandry and very little farm (mostly sheeps).
The community not only struggles with income, but they get to face a social and racial exclusion because of the work
they do. People consider Bhotiyas as merely a porter thus it is seen in a shady vision but Jads don't want to be
considered as Bhotiyas anymore because they are not just Porters but traders, designers, artists, artisans, architects and
are into many other fields. Before the Indo-sino war the shrine of their deities,the two sisters and a brother, were
together and got separated after the war, only in a condition to bring the two sisters to meet their brother once a year.
To keep their sacred promise to their deities every year they are supposed to take 2 sisters (goddesses)to meet their
Brother (God) who still lives in Jadong.
Through this Documentary, We aim to bring into focus the :
1. The introduction of the Community to the world, “they are not just portars”.
2. Ways of survival in the past and what they do in the present date.
3. Challenges and Opportunities for the community.
4. Sustainability of the community and problem areas.
We request your support in the research and Documentary as a virtue of the visual evidence to help the Dzad
community grow and explore different livelihood opportunities and maintain a sustainable living for the
community and we help them by bridging the gaps wherever required to live and leave a heritage behind for their
children.
We are putting in mostly our pocket funds and effort to provide for all the basic needs, however we need more
support in terms of bringing out a good quality documentary and showcase the community to the world. We
require help of around INR 89,400/-

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