Banjara (Lambada) Community in India: Some Issues

The Banjaras of India have a great historical legacy. India is known for cultural diversity. It is also called as a pluralistic society. Scholars have called India as an ‘ethnological museum’. The country has several social groups which are governed by the Varna system. The Indian social order is primarily responsible for the deprivation, degradation and depression of a vast majority of indigenous people of India. The goals of social democracy and economic democracy have not been actualized even after seventy years of national independence. The dominant powers continue to rule the roost by abusing the caste power, muscle power, money power and political power. The indigenous people have been excluded from the mainstream of national development despite several constitutional protections, provisions and privileges. The central and state governments have also formulated certain policies and implemented specific programmes for the social and economic modernization, transition and development of the marginalized sections of Indian society. These initiatives have not really benefited the women and weaker sections of Indian society mainly due to lack of political will, social concern and discriminatory tendencies of the ruling class. The Lambadi’s had led a gypsy life in the past and primarily lived in the western Indian state of Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. They belong to Scheduled Caste in Karnataka state and backward caste in other states respectively. They are basically nomadic people from the Indian states of Rajasthan, North West, Gujarat, Western Madhya Pradesh and Eastern Sindh province of Pakistan. The aim of this topic is to study the Banjara (Lambada) community in India: issues and challenges.