The term nomad encompasses three general types: 1. nomadic hunters and gatherer; 2. pastoral nomads (owning livestock), and 3. tinker or K) trade nomads. As of 1995, there were an estimated 30-40 million nomads in the world ("Nomads: At the Crossroads – The Facts". In India the nomadic communities can be broadly divided into three groups 1. hunter gatherers; 2. pastoralists and 3. the peripatetic or non-food producing groups. Anthropologist have identified about 8 nomadic groups in India. To understand the conditions of forest dwelling communities, India has introduced the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006” known as FRA, 2006. This act has recognised the community rights of the nomads and pastoral communities but in reality, the picture is quite different. Thia paper reviews the existing status of nomadic/ pastoral communities with special reference to the FRA, 2006 and the grassroot realities. The paper also raises issues such as decline in area under pasture land, change in the nature of land and bringing that under municipal council. This creates constant fear of eviction at their transit point because several such sites are still used by them. Decline in the yield of medicinal and other important plants due to shrinking of forest area compel them to go to the deepest into the reserve forest. States remain reluctant to settle and recognise their claims on the community forest land. Greed for land has increased so much that the villagers have started creating problems for these traditional communities so that they stop coming on their pre- fixed geographical territories. Very often, women become the soft target. An incident of a gang rape and later on murder of a minor girl from Bakarwal community (a muslim pastoral community) in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir on 10 January, 2018 is an apt example of that.