The Bhotiya or Bhotia are an occupational community of shepherds involved in the rearing of sheep, goats and yak etc. Numbering around 120,000 people, they mainly live in the northern states of Uttarakhand, Ladakh (now a Union Territory), Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Tripura, Sikkim, Jammu & Kashmir, West Bengal and Arunachal Pradesh. The tribal people who are identified as Bhotias of U.P have their permanent home or Maits in the upper reaches of seven different river valleys falling within the Uttarakhand division. The seven river valleys forming the homeland of the seven different tribal groups are all called Bhotias. According to the 2011 Census, a total of 39,106 Bhotia population with Scheduled Tribe status has been recorded. Out of the total population, 37,873 were Hindu and 1,100 were Buddhist. The most popular languages among the Bhotia are Kumauni (13,150 speakers), Bhotia (7,592), Garhwali (5,765), Halam (5,300) Hindi (5,809), and Rongpa (481). There were a total of 510 births in 2010, corresponding to a birth rate of 13.04 per 1,000 (2001) Before the partition of the State of Uttar Pradesh in Uttaranchal and U.P in the Year 2000, In view of understanding the challenges faced by the Bhotia community, the study focuses on the following objectives: to study the challenges faced by Bhotias in the last Indian village, that is, Mana; to study factors affecting the cultural perseverance of the community; and to suggest solutions for the given challenges. Significance of the study; the rich tribal culture of the Bhotia community needs to be preserved because these are our indigenous cultures and traditions. If the issue of their migration and extinction is not addressed immediately, then the life that was once an integral part of everyday life would be lost.
