Like here, like there

Like this, like that
Like here, like there
Friend, enemy
Life, death
All the same
All is he …
– Shah Abdul Latif (1689-1752)

For millennia, movement has been central to the existence of human communities around the world. The nomad's logic always defied the logic of the settlers. A choolah (hearth) that is grounded, a grinding stone that is fixed, water from a well – all these were taboos for many nomadic communities, in Southasia as elsewhere. The freedom to move is crucial to the survival of communities involved in hunting, food gathering, pastoralism and shifting cultivation. But this freedom has been severely curtailed in recent decades, as settled ways of living have become the norm, national boundaries have hardened and state policies have eroded nomadic ways of living.

Across the Subcontinent, there are numerous communities that were historically nomadic or semi-nomadic. The mobility of these populations was regarded as a threat by the colonial administration, which tried to discipline them through punitive measures such as the Criminal Tribes Act, land settlement policies, forest laws, excise duties and the like. Post-Independence, the state's approach remains largely unchanged; combined with the triumphant march of capital and liberalisation and globalisation, this has further marginalised these communities.