JOWAI: A workshop on Gender Implication of Tribal Customary Law themed ‘The case of the Jaintia (Pnars) People’ was held on Friday, at Thomas Jones Synod College, Jowai.
The Workshop was organized by the North Eastern Social Research Centre (NESRC), Guwahati and was attended by and prominent citizens of Jowai and lectures from various institutions. Resource persons at the workshop included, Dr Melvil Pereira, Director, NESRC; Dr RP Athaparia, Senior Fellow, NESRC; and research associate, Sunumi Changmi.
The workshop aimed at highlighting the research that the NESRC had started, in 2005, studying five different tribes in the Northeast which was later extended to include other tribes comprising of the Pnars and the Langam tribes in Meghalaya.
In 2005, a study on the Gender Implications of Customary Law by the NESRC, funded by the National Commission for Women, published a report in the form of a book.
According to Dr Pereira, the methodology for the study on the Jaintia People was based on both primary and secondary data. For primary data, in-depth interviews of six individuals based on their age and occupation was conducted.
The second source of primary data was the individual interview schedules designed for 10 villages, each comprising of 12 individuals, including six males and six females.
The sample for the primary data comprised of politicians, students, religious leaders, tribal elders and a village level political body.
