Nomads Of India
Nomads are known as a group of communities who travel from place to place for their livelihood. Some are salt traders, fortune-tellers, conjurers, ayurvedic healers, jugglers, acrobatss, story tellers, snake charmers, animal doctors, tattooists, grindstone makers, or basketmakers. All told, anthropologists have identified about 500 nomadic groups in India, numbering perhaps 80 million people—around 7 percent of the country's billion-plus population.
The nomadic communities in India can be broadly divided into three groups hunter gatherers, pastoralists and the peripatetic or non-food producing groups. Among these, peripatetic nomads are the most neglected and discriminated social group in India. They have lost their livelihood niche because of drastic changes in transport, industries, production, entertainment and distribution systems. Though very poor and deprived they are still not facilitated with any constitutional safeguard and concern. Statistics show that governments are applying development policies which are basically invented for scheduled tribes or scheduled casts. The government of India in early 2006 has set up a commission for the development of these communities.
Read more about Nomads Of India: Historic Development, Pastoral Nomadic Tribes, Peripatetic Nomads, See Also
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