OccupationalBackground.Rmd

# **Occupational Background of the participants**

![](https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/9kh-p7ZhBE2beMJgWtmCU1fSQuiGEotlT8aTF0tgpJZ5cGUa23JT_kKieGFRZ0yKUJeRjsO-uVSt2wtFmSQGpe3-EtA-1xqTVCzEbcItVlvgbU1zmkhP1Q0MfvuzAhefXm-_wJ4l9pfygDudJw)

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The highest earners group of 48.1%  are earning between 5,000-7,000 rupees per month. No guess is required to imagine what work community is involved. We kept the question open-ended to include as many responses when asking about the occupation. Among the occupations **begging** as at 34.9%, daily wagers at 34%, waste collection 5.7%, electric cookware repairing 4.7%, Potraj dance performance 1.9%, Porter 1.9%, Selling balloons 1.9%, playing the Sarangi and Begging 3.8%. However, the earning from such a source can not meet the daily needs. People practice multiple combinations getting involved in other tasks too to make ends meet. Communities such as Nathpanti Davari Gosavi, Mariaaiwale, Banjara and Vadar are the communities having more number of families in Ambernath comparatively. And there are no whatsoever specific signs to be seen that what community is doing what work. Begging and Daily wage work are the two occupations in which every community is involved around 68.9% of the surveyed families. Though field staff was not able to gauge the 'Caste' the Muslim community belong. However, considering all of the 4% of them involved in sweeping occupations only. We used the larger term Muslim for our own simplification. Further, all of the Muslims in the survey have a similar occupation of sweeping. 

It is no surprise a maximum number of Nomadic people particularly around cities and small towns survives on crumbs. The inherent suggestive name of the community i.e., Nomads to not ever have to consider them for any govt. schemes or providing them with those facilities which the state provides to its 'Citizens'. Though nomadic communities don't only rely on a single source to earn a livelihood. Many of them earn through different means.  However, begging as a source of income is not surprising to those who have been working in this area. The criminalization of begging is a well-known fact in the Indian law without giving any recourse to any other form of livelihood, making a whole community get stuck in the beggary cycle. The policing of the communities is explicit in the Bombay Prevention of Begging Act of 1959 (Bombay Prevention of Begging Act, 1959, n.d.). There is almost no out of such a situation if police are involved in something which they have no understanding at all. The issues are policy level understanding of Begging. It involves caste and criminalized nomadic communities. Though the Criminal Tribes Act of 1872 (B&B Associates, n.d.) has been abolished but not from the psychic of the police state.

As "their traditional technical skills, knowledge about the environment, medicinal herbs, music, art, theatre, and other expertise are becoming a lost treasure and things of no value. The plight of some of the peripatetic Nomads is much worse due to loss of patronage, the emergence of new communication and entertainment media, and the enactment of different laws by the State. Many of them have become 'criminals' in the eyes of law and wider society. They have now taken to begging, rag picking, prostitution and other immoral activities for their existence. This has a clear bearing on their right to livelihood and residence. Economic aspects The denotified and nomadic communities pursue a wide variety of livelihoods, depending on the specific nature of the community in question. The pastoralists based on the animals they tend to vary in their economic pursuits. There are pastoralists who raise cattle, buffaloes, goats, sheep, camels, pigs, geese, etc. These pastoralists are a good source of milk, butter, meat, wool, organic manure, and other animal products. They traditionally have customary relations with the peasants in rural India. Some of these traditional economic relations are affected due to many changes that have taken place since colonial times. ([Renke 2008:86](about:blank))

The majority of the denotified and nomadic communities, especially the peripatetic, are poor and they cater to the lower and middle-level peasantry (Misra, 1982: 21). However, today, their livelihoods have become unlawful due to the misplaced policies and programmes of the governments and unthoughtful policymakers. As a result, their traditional occupations have become now demeaning and disrespectful, and of low esteem. Most of the peripatetic nomads have been reduced to begging, wage labour, etc.

"The people who were driven to misery and uncertainty have been encountering animosity and disdain for no fault of theirs from the wider community. Many times they are chased out of the villages and face the worst kind of discrimination which is unparallel to any kind of discrimination meted out to settled communities." ([Renke 2008:95](about:blank))

"When we look at their traditional occupations and their existing occupations, it offers us an understanding of changes that have taken place and the reasons for these changes.  A large number of DNTs are engaged in rag picking in cities and towns and are living in extremely unhygienic conditions with no knowledge and understanding of the aspects of safety in their jobs" ([Renke 2008:138](about:blank))

At 34% per cent, there are few nomadic communities who are into daily wage labourers in the unorganized sector. Interestingly the majority of those who are daily wage labourers are from the Banjara community. While others still performing their musical instrument along with begging, few took up the jobs of repairing cookers and gas stoves. These works are those which everyone has encountered in small towns and big cities. With meagre earning with maximum risk of losing income altogether is a bitter truth.

"Another important aspect to note is that their products do not get a favourable response from the modern markets as they lack access to them. Most of them, who indulge in street vending of vegetables, fruits, old clothes, cosmetics, bangles, toys, baskets, etc., face problems of eviction and harassment from police, revenue, and other local authorities. These communities cater to the needs of the poor and make a living out of the sale of their produce of labour. Thus there is a need to provide access to market places to these communities." ([Renke 2008:88](about:blank))

However, those who produce they make have huge value due to their exoticization in the market. but upper-caste NGOs have completely dominated this trade and used nomads as temporary labourers when their business reached break-even, the NGO fires them. at the same time, they are taken for marketing to market their events and expansive workshops to treat them and their skills exotic and marketable to get more funding for their NGOs. ([note on p.88](about:blank))

The decline in sources of living, many of the nomadic tribes or communities have been shifting to a sedentary lifestyle, thus leading to an occupational shift. Most of the nomads are now into wage labour (Gobar Times, 2002; Bokil, 2002, Facing Exclusion, Indian Journal of Social Work, Vol. 63, I; and Lim and Rita Anand, 2004, Confronting Discrimination, Habitat International Coalition, Housing and Land Rights Network). ([Renke 2008:97](about:blank))