The Dhangars are a community of shepherds with populations in several states. Recently, they held a march in Maharashtra’s Buldhana district, demanding a grazing corridor for their sheep and goat.
- The community’s demand for grazing corridors is essentially a demand for the recognition of their right to graze along their traditional routes.
- Dhangars have herded their animals along specific routes since time immemorial. As the forest department has started marking out protected forests, the movements of the community have come to be seen as encroachment on forest lands.
- The Dhangars are on Maharashtra’s list of Vimukta Jati and Nomadic Tribes (VJNT), but have been demanding Scheduled Tribe (ST) status for decades.
- Besides Maharashtra, they live in Gujarat, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh, as well, and are known by other names such as Golla and Kuruba elsewhere.
