Livelihood and Rural Incomes of Misings: A Comparative Study of Majuli and Gogamukh Areas of Assam Sarmah Pritom Jyoti*, Mohapatra A.C.** *Ph. D. Scholar, Department of Geography, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong **Professor, Department of Geography, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, E-mail: acmohapatradr@gmail.com Online published on 22 January, 2018. Abstract The economy of the Mising community in Assam is primarily farm based. Majority of the households derive their livelihood from agriculture and related activities including animal rearing, forest related activities or fishing in nearby water bodies and river channels in and around areas they inhabit. Farming and related activities provide for both food and other necessities including money incomes. Natural resources available in and around the Mising habitat, to a great extent, influence the entire livelihood system of the community. Natural resources that largely constitute of the floodplains (land), the river and water bodies (for fishing) and the river islands (Char land) not only constitute the most important base for their survival but are also means of long term sustainability of the livelihood system of the community. The objective of the current paper is to assess the income status of the households based derived from natural resources (CPR) and agriculture as these are central to their livelihood. The paper is a comparative study between two Mising communities, one settled in Majuli Island of Jorhat district and the other in Gogamukh areain Dhemaji district of Assam, the first an island communityand the other, on the northbank corridor of the mighty River Brahmaputra. The paper is based on primary data collected through extensive fieldwork in the two areas. The paper concludes that the main assets on which the community livelihood system is based, has been the land resources— the community having been principally “peasantised” evolving from an earlier fishing and animal herding livelihood system and the land ownership and access are closely linked to their food security and income generation. Top Keywords Agriculture, Income, Natural Resources, Sustainability. Top |