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The objectives of the present study were to assess the reproductive health status along with the antenatal care, personal hygiene and general awareness and current use of family planning methods among tribal women of Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh. The study was conducted in two blocks, viz., Kalpa and Nichar of district Kinnaur of H.P. From both block 20 villages were selected randomly and from these villages 250 women in the age group of 15-45 years were selected. A self-structured interview schedule was administered that included the background information and items on physical health status of tribal women. Karl Pearson correlation matrix was applied to find out the relationship between socio-personal characteristics with various factors. The results revealed that the women were married off before the legal age of 18 years and the average age of having first child was found to be 19.1 years. Antenatal care of these tribal women was also found to be poor, as majority still had children delivered at home. It was found that lack of proper antenatal care leads to abortions/miscarriages, still births or complications during deliveries. These women were not aware about HIV/AIDS and STDs. They lacked in personal hygiene awareness as well, which can be correlated with half of these respondents suffering from Urinary Tract infections or vaginal discharge as a major problem. Therefore, there is a need to create awareness among these women about various health issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout the 20th century, a series of land reforms were implemented in the Kinnaur District of the state of Himachal Pradesh in the Indian Himalaya. Although the purpose of the reforms was to mitigate rising social and economic inequality, there has been no analysis of whether the reforms achieved their stated goals. In this paper, I draw on ethnographic research to study the broad impact the reforms have had on land and wealth redistribution, and on Kinnaur’s thriving apple economy. Land reforms were intended to redistribute land to the poorest population. While the immediate results failed to achieve their objectives, the consequences were uneven and some wealthy landowners benefited from land redistributions. The broader outcome, however, has led to an increase in the wealth of the poorest classes over time and a shift in agrarian relations in Kinnaur. Land reforms have continued to be one of the many factors affecting Kinnaur in recent decades, and have played a significant role in the district’s economic changes. Today the majority of Kinnauris, despite their caste and economic status, own small parcels of land from which they profit. This research, based on nearly one year of ethnographic fieldwork, exhibits a link between land reforms, land ownership, and economic development in Kinnaur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the socio-political assemblies and authoritative speech traditions in the societies of Spiti and Upper Kinnaur in India, and Purang in Tibet. Topics discussed include the authoritative assemblies among members of royal lineages in Western Tibet, the translation and significance of the Tibetan phrase mol ba chen po, and the delivery of authoritative speech at wedding ceremonies.

In Kinnaur-a Himalayan tribal district of Himachal Pradesh, India, on the Sutlej River and at the Tibet border-Buddhism has been practiced, along with indigenous local Hinduism, for at least a thousand years. From ancient times too, Kinnauras have loved to sing and dance. In Kinnauri villages, jomos (celibate Buddhist nuns) and lamas (who in Kinnaur are male religious specialists and most often married) tell the story of Buddhism by reciting prayers and texts, performing rituals, teaching basic Buddhism, and also, significantly for this paper, by composing and singing songs for their disciples and others. Since the Dalai Lama and other Tibetan monks and nuns first came as refugees to India in 1959, some Kinnauri nuns and monks have gone to study with them in Dharamsala (where the Dalai Lama lives) and elsewhere. So nowadays, both ancient traditions and modern curricula coexist in Kinnaur, and Buddhist women masters transmit Buddhism in various ways. This paper asks and attempts to answer two questions: (1) Are there Buddhist women masters in Kinnaur, and if so, what are they like? (2) Do nuns sing about nuns, and if not, why not? (An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 11 annual DANAM conference 2013 in Baltimore, Maryland (in conjunction with the American Academy of Religion annual meeting) in Session 2, entitled 'Buddhist Women Masters'. And LaMacchia 2013b ("Basic Buddhism in songs: Contemporary nuns' oral traditions in Kinnaur," ) discusses in greater depth the way in which Kinnauri nun gurus compose and sing songs as a method of teaching basic Buddhism.) Using as methods fieldwork research (from 1995 to the present)-participant observation and recorded songs, life stories, and interviews-I argue that there are valid, authentic Buddhist women masters-nun gurus-in Kinnaur, but their mode of being masters-ordinary and celibate renunciants-is different from the mode of the reincarnate male gurus they typically sing about in their songs-extraordinary and non-celibate. The paper describes several contemporary women masters and applies traditional definitions of a master to them (citing Gampopa, the Third Dalai Lama, and others), as well as subcategories suggested by me, and quotes two songs that shed light on the ways in which Buddhist masters are (or are not) perceived and presented. In response to the second question, Why don't nuns sing about nuns-or rather, why is there only one song about a nun, the song of the exemplary renunciant Nyima Zangmo-the paper concludes by suggesting that this simple and understated song may be quite powerful if (as Thapar claims) renunciation, and especially female renunciation, is seen as a form of resistance to the norm which is household life, and if (as I claim) a celibate jomo represents renunciation better than typically non-celibate Kinnauri male lamas do. I offer another, rather speculative possibility, too: that her name Nyima, meaning 'sun', may link her subliminally to reincarnate lamas, said to emit light rays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author focuses on the historical developments of the Shipki La mountain pass and discusses the factors that triggered its re-opening in 1994. Topics discussed include its geographical location in Kinnaur district, the pass' historic role in relations with Tibet, and the low level of commerce since its re-opening. A list of duty-free tradable goods between India and China is presented which include processed food, readymade garments, and local herbal medicines.

Feminism refers to an intense awareness of identity as a woman and interest in feminine problems. Cultural tolerance is when someone has to accept the cultural belief and customs without any question. For instance, there may be quite few women who actually adhere to their inheritance or divorce rights etc. However, the tribal women are not entitled many constitutional rights as their counterparts are given, yet they are the real epitome of feminism with their primitive tradition and modern outlook. In order to evaluate the feminist outlook of tribal society, an empirical study has been done of a tribal district of Himachal Pradesh, Kinnaur, with the aim to evaluate how far do kinnauri women conform to modern feminist ideas in their attitudes, behaviour and way of life? Kinnaur is situated in the North-Eastern part of Himachal Pradesh, given the status of tribal district and preserves an old age tradition with its own customary law known as The Bazib -UL-Arz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diversified Farming System is one of the main constituents of the National Watershed Development Project for Rainfed Areas (NWDPRA) to enable the farmers of a specified area to obtain maximum possible returns in addition to ensure a balanced productive system in the farming. But, various field experiences have shown the reluctance of farmers in adopting a complete package of practices recommended under the system due to various constraints. To explore these constraints, the study conducted in the "Chaura Watershed" of Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh revealed the main constraints as (i) non-availability of inputs timely such as improved varieties' seeds / seedlings, fertilizers, pesticides, etc.; (ii) high cost of inputs and lack of finance for purchasing them; (iii) undulating small land holding having low fertility due to frequent soil erosion; (iv) inclement weather conditions particularly at critical stagesof crop growth; (v) road blockade at the time of transportation, inadequate supply of packaging material and lack of remunerative prices for quality produce; (vi) lack of technical guidance in complete package of technology; (vii) lack of farmers' participation in the development work; (viii) low frequency of on-campus as well as off-campus training for farmers particularly for Mitra Kisans (Friend Farmers) and Gopals (Care-takers of common/waste land development activities); and (ix) lack of adequate publicity regarding implementation and functioning of the project. In addition, some strategical points for promoting the adoption of diversified farming system have also been discussed in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]