Many groups of baul now have the economic choice of settling down and do not have to travel from place to place as mendicants. They have turned to more sustainable forms of culture like public functions and government sponsored awards. In many of these performances, the baul is a mouthpiece for the government’s drives like family planning and AIDS awareness.

 

As to music labels, except for a very few and recognised bauls, they have rarely come forward to represent talents here. Fewer recording opportunities, coupled with greater commercialization of successful names have given rise to stiff competition among singers. Bauls have been pushed to establish his or her lineage and trace their antecedents to illustrious gurus to thwart pretend-bauls who crowd the fairs and functions by droves.

 

Significantly the bauls never formed a separate faith or creed for themselves. They never bothered to establish any identity greater than that of ‘Manush’, the human being. The loosely banded community thrives on its tradition of independence.