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This document provides a summary of a study conducted on dairy farmers in the Rajbanshi community in Cooch Behar district, West Bengal, India. The study aimed to assess the breeding and health management practices followed by these farmers. The findings indicate that the majority of farmers prefer crossbred cattle for higher milk yield and rely on visible signs to detect heat. The farmers have good access to artificial insemination services and high-quality semen. Vaccination practices for diseases like foot-and-mouth disease and brucellosis are commendable, but there is room for improvement in deworming practices and shed hygiene. Due to a scarcity of veterinarians, farmers often rely on local animal health workers called Prani Bondhus. The study emphasizes the importance of education, access to veterinary services, and the adoption of best practices for successful dairy farming. [Extracted from the article]

In the nineteenth and twentieth century, the attempt to 'construct' the 'imagined ' nation of India, in line with the colonial, modern idea of the nation, resulted in a process of sanitization, appropriation and assimilation directed at the lower caste and tribal communities. However, on delving into the expressive culture of the Rajbangsi women of North Bengal, we encounter a realm of subversive female articulations and practices, offering glimpses into an alternate culture which destabilizes modern notions of decency and morality. In my paper, I would like to study the oral songs of Rajbangsi women, bhawaiya and chatka, as narratives of their lives. Through singing they reclaim spaces for assertion of freedom, choice and agency, and challenge patriarchal norms and the dominant stereotype of women as passive victims. A critical analysis of these songs as narratives through postcolonial feminist theory will shed light on the subversion of the dominant ideals of Indian Hindu womanhood and foreground the emergence of a new kind of female subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Space and Memory are co-related as memory imbibes historical roots to a space with the process of recreation. Arguing the concept of Spatiality, Geocritc Robert Tally coins the word 'Topophrenia' to locate 'the subjective engagement with a given place and with the possible projection of alternative spaces' (Chap. 1). Here, Tally argues the idea of subjectivity both with the ontological and imaginary places. These dialectics of space are imbibed in the individual and collective memory of the Koch Rajbanshi people with historical consciousness. With this historical consciousness, Koch Rajbanshi Poets from the undivided Koch Kamata Kingdom write poems imbibing strong memory associated with the spaces-both real and imaginary. Koch Rajbanshi Poetry has a profound legacy of the glorious history and culture of the community in South East Asian nations. Due to Geo-political bifurcations of the nations, the greater Koch Kingdom was merged with the other states and nations. Consequently, liminal political boundaries displaced and scattered people giving different identities and marginalizing their own indigenous epistemology. As Rajbanshi is a major community of the modern states of Assam and Meghalaya, the canon of Rajbanshi literature with its own identity also comes under the purview of North East Literature. The colonial knowledge system in the new geopolitical space subjugates their rich epistemological and ontological presence. This paper attempts to argue that Rajbanshi Poetry shares a collective memory to assert their historical consciousness by reclaiming their right to the lost land and epistemology. While upholding the argument, Robert Tally’s idea of spatiality, Walter Mignolo's concept of colonial knowledge system and Leanne Simpson's argument of Land as pedagogy will be problematised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Field survey made in 24 villages of the South-West Garo Hills district, Meghalaya, inhabited mainly by the Koch community helped to gather ethnobotanical information concerning 25 medicinal plant species belonging to 24 Angiospermic and 1 Pteridophytic genus under 22 different families that are used as traditional hepatoprotective herbal medicine. Among the different plant parts prescribed for hepatoprotection, fruits are the most frequently used plant part (25%), followed by leaves (21.42%) and then followed by stems, rhizomes, roots and the whole plant which had equal applications (10.71%). Barks (7.14%) and cloves (3.57%) of the medicinal plants were relatively less frequently prescribed plant part for the purpose of hepatoprotection. Regarding the life form of the reported medicinal plants prescribed by the traditional healers, herbs (11 species) were most frequently used, followed by trees (7 species), climbers (3 species), shrubs (2 species) and epiphytes (2 species). All plant parts tested positive for alkaloids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to study numerals and counting system of the Rajbanshi/Kamtapuri language. The numerals are found in day to day usage in children's game, in idioms, in riddles and personal names. I will try to explore use of numerals in general sense. The aim here is to see whether there is any adstratal or superstratal influence on the Rajbanshi/Kamtapuri numerals in a language contact situation. The data were collected from Coochbehar and Alipurduyar districts of West Bengal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper aims at providing a preliminary description of the endangered linguistic identity of the Koch community of West Bengal through historical point of view. According to UNESCO (ISO 639-3), this is a severely endangered language in India. Koch consists of an indigenous community in the northern part of West Bengal. Historically major population of Koch community was distributed around different regions of North Bengal, particularly in the districts of Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri, Dinajpur and the plains areas of Darjeeling district and Cooch Behar. Other than North Bengal, they are now living at Dhubri, Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon, Goalpara, Kamrup, Shonitpur and Darrang districts of Assam; and West Garo-Hills district of Meghalaya and Bangladesh. They are also scattered in a small number almost in all other districts of Assam and six other states of North Eastern India. The 2011 census of India put the number of speakers at 31,119. There are many debates on the origin; ethnic identity of the Koch. Amidst all these debates, it is agreed by most of the scholars, and historians that the Koch originated from Koch, a tribal community belonging to Tibeto-Burman language family (Grierson, 1903). According to Rebati Mohan Saha, they opted for the change of their name without least hesitation in later times. After independence of India, a number of Koch people have changed their name from the Koch to the Rabha to get maximum benefit from the government. As a result of this process there are many cases of anomaly: a father with a Koch title but his son having a Rabha one. At present the Koches and the Rabhas are their sect-names with their title, such as the 'Kama', 'Hakasam', 'Bantho', 'Nogra', etc. While we often describe the modern era - framed by the Post-Enlightenment narrative - as one marked by an unprecedented concern for identity and identification, there are many debates on the origin, ethnic identity of the Koch. Still it is agreed by most of the scholars and historians that the Koch originated from Koch-Rabha or Rabha, a tribal community who belonged to Indo-Mongoloid race. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Toll-like receptors are the mediators of the innate immune response to pathogens. In human, this gene family regulates the inflammatory pathways and is associated with the susceptibility to infection. Subjects and methods The distribution and the diversity patterns of TLR genes in Rajbanshi population ( n = 85) who are the inhabitants of the Northern part of West Bengal, have been investigated in the present study. PCR-SSP was done for all the ten TLR genes. We have also constructed the phylogenetic tree principal component analysis and genetic distance for all the four populations. Results It has been observed that in Rajbanshi population, the frequency of TLR8 (0.894) is higher and the frequency of TLR2 (0.176) is very low. Dendrogram based analysis, as well as the PCA plot, documented the closeness of Rajbanshi and Gurkha population. However, Rabha is distantly related to Rajbanshi population though evidences suggest their emergence from the same East-Asian lineage. Genetic distances between Rajbanshi–Gurkha and Rajbanshi–Muslim are very much smaller than that of Rajbanshi–Rabha populations. Interpretations & conclusions Therefore, it may be concluded that Rajbanshi, Gurkha and Muslims are very much mixed populations and have genetic closeness due to exposure to similar environmental conditions. On the other hand, the Rabhas strictly follow the endogamy and are restricted to a particular region and therefore maintain considerable distances with the other three populations. The data showed some interesting observations which deviate the contemporary thought in respect to the population genetics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise of ethnic struggles in various parts of the world, particularly in the post-colonial period, is an intriguing phenomenon. Having the consciousness of primordial origins, indigenous communities have pursued ethnic mobilizations along different lines in order to achieve the goals of social and economic uplift. This paper focuses on the Rajbanshi, one such community living in northeast India, as they offer an opportunity to study history and ethnic identity formation as the dynamics behind their current situation. From the standpoint of applied anthropology, processes of social change and activism intended to improve the lot of Rajbanshi communities are evaluated. Given their obscure origins, cultural diversity and divided political struggle, the Rajbanshi are far from achieving their goal of pursuing better lives. Strategies of Sanskritization and ‘sons-of-the-soil’ indigeneity have not reaped the desired results in terms of social and economic development. Furthermore, discourses rooted in immigrant-aboriginal binaries and theoretical dichotomies of primordialism–constructivism fail to make sense of this community's experience and are not helpful in guiding them toward meaningful and fruitful political and social change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India since independence has experienced a series of movements based on “identity politics” demanding separate states and reorganization of its internal state boundaries. Much of the contemporary discussions find uneven development and unequal access to power accelerated by regionalism and linguistic fanatism responsible for these movements. Through the study of social movements of Koch–Rajbanshi people in North Bengal, the paper argues that these movements display a timeless quest and aspirations of people that are rooted in their deep sense of history. People's unique sense of history or “historical imaginations” are contextualized within the secular language of socio-economic injustices and socio-cultural differences celebrated in a spectacular manner through these movements marked by re-interpretation, re-writing of the past, real yet imagined, time bound yet eternal. Today the Koch–Rajbanshi people are creating a “new past” and an identity which is a blend of colonial ethnography on one hand and Rajbanshi mythographies on the other. The paper also questions the dichotomy that apparently exists between the past and the present. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Rajbanshis are indigenous people and have their own labour practices and labour arrangement system. Traditionally, they have divided their work loads according to type of works by sex and age. Like other communities, females have to bear double responsibility - to look after their homes as well as agriculture. Hence they are occupying important part of the Rajbanshi community from the labour arrangement perspective. The Rajbanshi community comprises of caste and sub-caste system based on labour practices. But the widow labour system which was present in the community has now been disappeared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses various articles published within the issue including one by Om Gurung on the issue of social inclusion in Nepal, another by Jailab Rai on the subjectivities of landlessness of the Sarki people from Naubise VDC of Dhading District in Nepal, and one by Keshav Kumar Shrestha on the ethnography of the Rajbanshis, an indigenous group from eastern Terai in Nepal.

The article looks at the ethnology of the Rajbanshis, one of the indigenous peoples in Nepal. It provides a historical overview of the Rajbanshis, noting various legends relating to their origin and ancestry. It also discusses their settlement which is mostly in Jhapa, their housing patterns, their lineage, and the structure of their families. Their rituals relating to birth, marriage, and death ceremonies are investigated, as well as their food habits, dress patterns, and religion. Particular focus is also given to the economic system of the Rajbanshis.

Abstract: The allele frequency distribution of 15 autosomal STR loci was determined using AmpFlSTR® IdentifilerTM kit in three endogamous caste populations namely, Rajbanshi, Paliya and Dhimal from northern regions of West Bengal, India. The study includes 13 CODIS STR core markers, i.e., D8S1179, D3S1358, D21S11, D7S820, CSF1PO, vWA, TPOX, D18S51, THO1, D13S317, D16S539, D5S818, FGA and two other loci D19S433 and D2S1338. All the loci followed Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium, except loci D8S1179, vWA and FGA in Rajbanshi population, D13S317 in Paliya population and D16S539 and TPOX in Dhimal population. The allele 12 in CSF1PO in Rajbanshi population and allele nine in THO1 in Paliya as well as in Dhimal population were found to be most frequent. All the 15 STR loci studied were found to be highly polymorphic with respect to observed heterozygosity values. Population differentiation tests revealed highly significant differences at several loci suggesting the endogamous nature of studied populations. STR allele frequency data on Dhimal population presented here is a unique contribution to the existing DNA data base on Indian population. To the best of our present knowledge, hitherto Dhimal Population has not been explored genetically for generating forensic data on STR markers. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The existence of human life is related with his surrounding environment. It is the particular adjustable and suitable environment that provides him to acquire all of his basic needs. The Rajbansi are one of the early settlers of North Bengal and primarily depended on agriculture. But with the changing dimension of time there occurred a lot of socio-political changes and it resulted in the migration of large number of Bangladeshi Rajbansi into West Bengal as well as in other parts of India and most of them started to settle down in different districts of north Bengal. Among them Siliguri and its adjacent areas were a prime one and there occurred a rapid population growth. Gradually Siliguri flourished as the largest urban center of north Bengal and it resulted in a number of new occupational outfits in this region. The stone crushing occupation on Balasan River Bed is one of them. The rootless migrated people readily accepted this occupation to meet with their basic needs without investing any capital, except their manual labour. This paper is an attempt to briefly discuss the issues that are associated with the stone crushing occupation and the features of health, nutrition, disease as well as other concerned factors to the dally livelihood of the said people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents comments on the scientific abstract "Reconstructing the Origin of Andaman Islanders" and response on those comments. On the basis of mitochondrial DNA sequence analyses, researchers proposed that Andaman islanders descended from the first humans to migrate out of Africa. The mitochondrial DNA coding region substitutions shared by the Andamanese and two Rajbanshi individuals suggests the early split of M31 from some continental Indian mitochondrial DNA lineages at the time depth 11/14 of the age of haplogroup M.