19, June 2026

Life on the Margins: Migration, Identity, and Survival of Denotified Tribes in Delhi – With Special Focus on Gadia Lohars and Bawaria/Kanjar

VOLUME-10; ISSUE-6; JUNE-2026

Author(s): K. Hinoca Assumi

Authors Affiliations:

Department of Political Science, Lovely Professional University, Punjab, India

DOIs:10.2017/IJRCS/202606004     |     Paper ID: IJRCS202606004


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Denotified Tribes (DNTs) in India continue to be one of the most structurally excluded social groups, as a result of the long history of colonial criminalization, the present administrative invisibility and the fragilities of informal urban life. This paper studies transformations in livelihoods, identity negotiation, and survival practices of denotified and nomadic communities through migration to Delhi, employing documentary research, with particular focus on the Gadia Lohars and Bawaria/Kanjar communities. The analysis is largely based on government commissions' documentation and rights-based reports, revealing that the “urban opportunity” in Delhi is often a precarious pavement-side settlement, an unstable job, and regular eviction and harassment. The study suggests that identity is cultural and bureaucratic, as it is constructed and deconstructed by the documentation regime, the movement of classification between states, and the ordinary governance of informal practices. The paper calls for a rights-based approach to housing security, the portability of rights for migrants, consistent classification and enforcement of anti-discrimination policies, and a stress on historical stigma related to denotified identities as key elements for durable change.

 

Denotified Tribes, Delhi, migration, identity, informal settlements, Gadia Lohar, Bawaria and Kanjar

K. Hinoca Assumi (2026); Life on the Margins: Migration, Identity, and Survival of Denotified Tribes in Delhi – With Special Focus on Gadia Lohars and Bawaria/Kanjar , International Journal of Research Culture Society,    ISSN(O): 2456-6683,  Volume – 10,   Issue –  6,  Available on – https://ijrcs.org/

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