Partridge Francolinus pondicerianusand
Grey Jungle Fowl Gallus sonneratii, among
others.Social prejudices against the com-
munity
Nearly 55% of the families were settled
on private (zamin-
dar’s) land on the
fringes of agricultural
fields. Only 5% of
the families were
settled on village
commons orsewaichakland. The village commons that
were earlier used by nomadic communities
to set up their tents are today shrinking,
which explains why
the Bawarias have
to set up their tents
on private lands.
This creates the
potential for conflict
with upper castes,
and disputes over
sharing of resources
such as water.
Almost 82% of the
Bawarias inter-
viewed reported
that their pots were
broken just for try-
ing to collect water
from the village
well. Further, 69%
stated conflict with
zamindars(land
owners) as the rea-
son for their shifting
their dera. This fig-
ure thus denotes
that while
nomadism or “being
on the move” was
earlier an economic
strategy for commu-
nities such as the
Bawarias, today it is
more related to a
social imperative.Partially because of the stigma associated
with belonging to a “criminal tribe”, as
many as 65% of the Bawarias interviewed
had faced harassment from the police and
law enforcement agencies. Of these, near-
ly 46% had been sent to jail, 16% had
their goods confiscated and 31% has
faced general harassment such as being
poked with sticks, being roughed-up or
beaten.Conservation aas ccultural aand ppolitical ppractice
Figure 4. Areas frequented by Bawarias for huntingFigure 5. Categories of land used for Bawaria settlementsAlmost 882 % oof tthe
Bawarias iinterviewed
reported tthat ttheir ppots
were bbroken jjust ffor ttry-
ing tto ccollect wwater ffrom
the vvillage wwell.