CJ SONOWAL
@tiss.edu
Professor, Family and Generation
International Institute for Popultion Sciences, Mumbai/ Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai
EDUCATION
MSc, PhD
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Social and Cultural Anthropology, Ethnicity, Tribes and Tribal Development, Religion, Tribal health, Gender Relathionship
Scopus Publications
Scholar Citations
Scholar h-index
Scholar i10-index
Scopus Publications
Sourav Biswas, Koushik Roy Pramanik, and C. J. Sonowal
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Abstract Background SCs and STs, historically marginalized communities in India, have been subjected to social and economic discrimination for centuries. Despite affirmative action policies, these communities face systemic discrimination and exclusion in various aspects of their lives. Poor health conditions among SC and ST women are caused by insufficient consumption of nutritious food, leading to undernutrition and related health issues. To address gaps in the literature regarding the nutritional status of these women, this study aims to compare the BMI of SC and ST women in West Bengal and investigate the factors affecting their BMI. The study's findings can inform targeted interventions to improve the nutritional status of SC and ST women in West Bengal and reduce disparities in their health outcomes. Materials and methods This study analyzed data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) to examine the distribution of underweight and non-underweight SC and ST women in West Bengal. The sample included 5,961 non-pregnant reproductive-aged SC women and 1,496 non-pregnant reproductive-aged ST women. A binary logistic regression model was used to determine how background characteristics affect the nutritional status (BMI) of respondents, while a multivariate decomposition analysis was conducted to identify the covariates contributing to the nutritional status difference between SC and ST women. QGIS 2.18.25 software was utilized to map the spatial distribution of underweight and non-underweight SC and ST reproductive-aged women. Results This study examines the nutritional status and differential background characteristics among SC and ST women in West Bengal, India. Results show that undernutrition affects the ST population more than the SC population, with age, marital status, religion, place of residence, educational status, and wealth quintile being significant factors affecting nutritional status. Food and dietary habits also impact nutritional status, with milk or curd, pulses or beans, dark green leafy vegetables, eggs, and fish being associated with lower rates of underweight. Binary logistic regression analysis reveals significant associations between socio-demographic factors and underweight status among SC and ST women. Socio-demographic factors were found to be the major contributors to the gap between SC and ST women, followed by food and dietary factors. The study highlights the need for targeted interventions to improve the nutritional status of marginalized communities like SC and ST women in West Bengal. Conclusion The study highlights a significant population suffering from underweight in West Bengal, with socio-economic factors and dietary habits significantly contributing to the nutritional gap between SC and ST reproductive-aged women. Policy implications suggest targeted interventions to improve access to education and employment opportunities and promote a healthy and balanced diet to reduce the gap. Future studies could explore vulnerability risks of these domains.
C. J. Sonowal and Mayuri Ashok
SAGE Publications
Dr B. R. Ambedkar adopted the policy of ‘religious conversion’ to provide social justice to the Mahars—an untouchable community in the state of Maharashtra. Nearly, three and a half million people accepted Navayana Buddhism on a single day under his leadership, denouncing Hindu gods and goddesses and vowed not to accept untouchable status imposed by the caste-Hindu population. Contrary to such a radical departure from Hinduism, there is evidence that a substantial chunk of the people still follows Hindu traditions and beliefs and practices, exhibiting a culture of religious pluralism. Based on a primary field study conducted among the Navayana Buddhist women in Mumbai Metropolitan Region, the article examines and explains the causes of such manifestation in the studied population’s religious life.
C. J. Sonowal
Kamla Raj Enterprises
Widespread health problems are prevalent among the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) of India, and they tend to incline towards their age-old traditional treatment practices. The PVTGs are relatively reluctant to accept modern bio-medical healthcare and treatment options available to them. The extent of interaction with and the level of exposure to the non-traditional domain directly impact the extent of acceptance of modern healthcare facilities by the tribal people. Based on the review of literature on health aspects of primitive tribal groups of India and some other relevant literature on health issues of indigenous peoples, the author tries to find out the disease burden among the particularly vulnerable tribal groups and perceptions of health, illness, and treatmentseeking behaviour prevalent among them. Further, using a conceptual framework, the author also analyses and discovers the gap in why these people are inclined towards traditional practices.
C.J. Sonowal
Kamla Raj Enterprises
ABSTRACT Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the deadliest diseases identified as the ‘disease of the poor’. India has the highest yearly incidence of TB in the world. Besides bio-medical determinants and risk factors, social determinants increase the risk factors of exposure to TB germs and after-exposure effects on a population. Growing experiences in TB control advocate more focus on intervention in social determinants as a complementary measure to the curative TB control regimen, as the curative TB control programme alone has been unable to control TB effectively. There is a high TB burden in the tea gardens of Assam despite the presence of a TB monitoring mechanism in place. This paper explores the extent of risk factors and social determinants prevalent among the tea garden worker population, which might help policy planning for controlling TB in Assam’s tea gardens.
C.J. Sonowal
Kamla Raj Enterprises
Abstract The perception of health and health seeking behaviour among the tribal people world over is intertwined with lots of factors – their traditional beliefs, practices, nature of interaction with physical environment and changing social, cultural and economic domain. Tribal population world over has been exposed to a rapidly changing world around them, the depleted natural resources on which they are dependent and alien culture of monetary economy. Tribal people are mostly unable to cope with these new situations. Their social and cultural customs are in transition whereas in socio-economic front they are lagging far behind from others. Such incompatibility has made the tribal people more vulnerable to several other aspects. Health-care issue is one of such major areas that need to be address on war footing. Among several health problems faced by the tribal groups, the problem of malnutrition and undernutrition is seen as the direct consequence of socio-economic disorganization of tribal societies. The study tries to find out the impact of socio-cultural, political and economic environment on nutritional status of tribal children in Maharashtra, India. The study is based on both primary and secondary data on health and nutritional status and also observation of several aspects of tribal people. The study reveals that shortage of land and forest resources, lack of suitable job opportunity at local level and exposure to non-tribal domain has made tribal people suffer from lots of health and nutritional problems.