ABSTRACT
The idea of community has been stapled to anthropological writings since the age of colonialism, which was based on shared clan, caste and ethnic identities. However, in the post-liberalisation period, the immense movement of people within countries and outside of them has created new identities, in the form of neo-communities, to forge and demand attention from governmental agencies and legal institutions to listen to their issues so that development can reach them in a more cohesive manner. This chapter argues that cohesive development for the neo-communities is the need of the hour, but if not looked at critically it has the potential to be co-opted by developmental agencies, as was done with the idea of participatory development.
