Family Settings of the Plain Karbis Inhabiting at Kenduguri Village in Greater Guwahati of Assam- an Investigation

The Karbis residing in the plains of Kamrup and Morigaon district of Assam, and the Ri-Bhoi district of Meghalaya are identified as the Dumrali or Plain Karbis. The Karbis are scattered in various parts of Guwahati. They are found especially in different parts of Guwahati city. The purpose of the present study is to identify the existing family structure of the plain Karbis, explore the fascination for language among the plain Karbis, and ascertain their opinions towards education. The study is descriptive in nature consisting of 62 numbers of households. The study revealed that 1) Nuclear type of family is most popular among the households.2) Father holds the position of the head in more than 80 % of the households.3) Wide variation of age is found and also a variety of relationships exists among the respondent households.4) Percentage of married persons is more than that of unmarried ones.5) Majority of the household members are either businessmen or service holders.6) The range of earning varies from Rs.6000-Rs.30, 000.7) Except for personal, on all other matters, before taking any decision more than 80 percent of the respondents do agree that advice of the head is sought by the members of the households.8) Mother tongue is usually spoken by majority (61.2 %) in both Assamese and Karbi languages.9) There exists a difference of mother tongue spoken by Karbi Hills and Karbi Plains people either in terms of accent, style or words expressed by the respondents.10) Among the respondents, nearly, 81 % of the respondents do know Hindi language followed by Assamese language.11) Majority of the respondents did study till primary education.12) Opinion of 75 % of respondents shows that Assamese medium of instruction preferred in school.13) The level of attainment to be reached by the younger generation is higher education.14) More than 80 % of them are in favor of imparting of Vocational training to the younger generation.15) All the respondents are in favour of education of girls