Paper Title
Social and Cultural Perspective of Muslim Gujjars: A Nomadic Tribe of Himachal Pradesh

Abstract
Indian culture owes significantly towards the tribal life, culture, values and traditions. While tribal life had its impact on the social system of mainstream civilization it influenced the tribal life in reverse as the tribal people gradually came in contact with the mainstream culture and ethos.These tribal people of India are mostly living either in the high hills or remote deep forests of the plains and even in tough terrains of the Himalayas. Their habitats are far from the civilized society. Though during the British Rule due to their uniform administration, the tribals were also affected to some extent, yet they mainly remained aloof from the mainstream society. It was with the entry of the Christian missionaries into tribal areas that the officers of the British administration started paying some attention to the tribals. But this contact was only superficial. The British government implement a strategy of seclusion towards the tribals. The main reason of this policy of segregation was to retain the status quo in the tribal society. This approach could not assist the development of the tribals. It resulted in increasing the state of detachment and primitivism among the tribals in India. The researcher in the present study will attempt to assess as to what extent changing modern values, the technological assistance and legal and administrative measures adopted by the central Government and the State Government for the socio-economic elevation of the Gujjar tribe of Himachal Pradesh have exerted, if any, transformative pressure on their traditional social, political and economic structures, under these provision some developmental process has been set into motion by the various activities undertaken by the Government for the welfare of the Gujjars. The researcher will make an attempt to analyse whether this process has facilitated or hindered the smooth integration (social, political, economic and national) of the Gujjars into the mainstream of Indian Society. Keywords - Gujjars, Nomadic, Development, Social, Cultural