Religion, Region & Nature and the Wisdom of Social Change in Kashmir
This paper studies the impact of religion, region and nature on discernment of socio-economic and socio-cultural change. Footed on an outcome of the study, we discovered that despite of background features, a bulk of people tales socio-economic advancement, with focus on preservation of biodiversity and natural resources, because of spirituality and divine connection. Even though traditionally excluded ethnic and religious groups are somewhat less likely to report social improvements than more privileged groups, two models of socio-economic and socio-cultural change show that such group differences disappear when controlling for socio-economic and other background characteristics. The survey data from our study unequivocally show that due to relevance of spirituality and nature, there are considerable differences across regional and religious groups on indicators of socio-economic status. This applies to literacy, educational levels, income and consumption levels, as well as to amenities and consumer goods. Social interaction between different ethnic, religious and regional groups is constricted by deeply entrenched cultural norms that prohibit direct contact between them. These groups are not confined to one geographical area but are scattered all over the region. In the present study the relationship between perceptions of social change and the impact of natural resources, spirituality and religion has been attempted to explore with well-designed methodology. This study is concerned with people’s perceptions of the extent of socio-economic and socio-cultural change that has taken place in Kashmir and how these perceptions because of divinity vary across individual, household and community variables. In particular the focus is on the perspicacity of social change and the effects of preserved biodiversity, religion and region, which are features that predominate in the discussion of inclusion and exclusion in Kashmir.