The Nishad are a Hindu caste, found in the Indian states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

In Bihar, the term refers to a group of around 20 communities whose traditional occupations centre on rivers, such as the Mallaah. There have been demands for these communities to be reclassified from Other Backwards Classes (OBC) to Scheduled Tribes.

In Uttar Pradesh, the term "Nishad" represents 17 OBC communities that have been proposed for Scheduled Caste status by the Samajwadi Party-controlled Government of Uttar Pradesh. However, this proposal, which relates to votebank politics and has been made in the past, has been stayed by the courts; a prior attempt was also rejected by the Government of India.

Nishads, according to Badri Narayan is a term denoting various communities whose traditional occupations has remained water-centric including sand dredging, Boating and Fishing. Since 1930s various caste organisation claiming to represent these communities started holding conferences with the central aim of uniting all these communities under the umbrella term "Nishad". Earlier these communities were classified as "Most Backward Caste", but in socio-economic status they were more close to Scheduled Castes. The organisation like Rashtriya Nishad Sangh,Shri ramasakha guhraj nishad seva samiti dholpur (Raj.), Nishad Kalyan Sabha, Maharaja Nishadraj Guhya Smarak Samiti were some of the organisation based in Uttar Pradesh which are hosting numerous Ekta Rally (unity conferences) to unify these caste groups.

In 2001, the writer E.S.D Bind argued that various subcaste of Nishad community together comprises 18% of the population of Uttar Pradesh, which were instrumental in affecting the electoral politics of the state. As a result, various political parties pitched for having a share of this large vote bank by manipulating the legends of mythical heroes of the community in a way to suit their agenda. This process became more swift after the publication of a pamphlet called Nishad Jati Sankhya Bal in a magazine called Nishad Jyoti. One of the earliest proponent of Nishad identity was Ram Chandr Vakil who was elected as a member of United Province legislative council in 1936. In the later years, the push to this identity politics was given by various political parties which included Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Bhartiya Janata Party.

Magazines such as Nishad Jyoti and Jheel Putra Smarika claimed that before the advent of Aryans in Indian subcontinent, there was a well developed kingdom of Nishads, which was fortified. These claims sought to recognise them as one of the earliest inhabitants of the subcontinent. Some of these magazines also claimed that, [they] were forefathers of Indus Valley civilization. In a bid to strengthen their claim, the various organisation affiliated to the Nishad community quoted the scholars such as Hall, Keith and William Crooke as well as scriptures like Rig Veda to prove that there used to be a well developed civilization before the advent of Aryans which had trade links to the rest of the world and Nishad were the founder of Ganga River Culture.

The genealogy made by the Nishads declares them to be the descendants of Nishadraj Guhya who befriended Rama when he was exiled from the Ayodhya. Their Gaurav Gathas or tales of glory features Maharishi Kalu (Guru of Narada), Nala, Damayanti, Matasyagandha as well as Ved Vyas (the composer of epic Mahabharata) as members of Nishad caste. In order to claim Nishadraj as their forefather they refer to a passage from Ramcharitmanas which says:

"Uttari thari bhae sursarireta
Siya Ram Guhya Lakhan Sameta"
(Disembarking from the boat, on the sand of Ganga
stood Sita and Ram with Guhya and Laxman.)