Class IX – Pastoralists in the Modern World

Ans. Nomadic pastoralists are people who are always on the move with their herds of goats and sheep’s or camels and cattle.

Ans. (i) Gujjar Bakarwals, great herders of goats and sheep – Jammu and Kashmir.

(ii) Gaddi Shepherds – Himachal Pradesh

Ans. Bhabar is a dry forested area below the foothills of Garhwal and Kumaon.

Ans. Bugyal is vast meadow in the high mountains.

Ans. After the kharif harvest, the fields had to be fertilized and made ready for rabi harvest. Dhangar flocks manured the fields and fed on the stubble. So they welcomed the Dhangers.

Ans. They livenear the woods, cultivate small patches of land, are engaged in a variety of petty trades and take care of their herds.

Ans. By these Rules uncultivated lands were taken over and given to select individuals for cultivation. This resulted in the decline of pastures and created problems for pastoralists.

Ans. No pastoralist was allowed access to Reserved forests. In ‘Protected’ forest, some customary grazing rights of pastoralists were granted but their movements were severely restricted.

Ans. The British officials were suspicious of nomadic people. They distrusted pastoralists who changed their places of residence every season. So they passed Criminal Tribes Act in 1871 which classified various tribes and pastoralists as Criminal Tribes.

Ans. As there was not enough pasture to feed large numbers of cattle, some pastoralists reduced the number of cattle in their herds.

Ans. In Africa, over half of the world’s pastoral population lives.

Ans. Bedouins, Berbers, Massai, Somali, Boran and Turkana.

Ans. The Massai cattle herders live primarily in east Africa: 300,000 in southern Kenya and another 150,000 in Tanzania.

Ans. (i) Expansion of cultivation

(ii) Construction of game reserves like the Maasai Mara and Samburu National Park in Kenya and Serengeti Park in Tanzania.

Ans. Massai society was divided into two social categories – elders and warriors.

Ans. Environmentalists and economists have increasingly come to recognise that pastoral nomadism is a form of life that is perfectly suited to many hilly and dry regions of the world.

Ans. (i) The Gujjar cattle herders came down to the dry forests of the Bhabar in the winter, and went up to the high meadows – the bugyals – in summer.

(ii) Many of them were originally from Jammu and came to UP hills in the nineteenth century in search of good pastures.

Ans. The cyclical movement between summer and winter pasture is essential due to the reasons mentioned below:

(i) It is essential for them to adjust to the seasonal changes.

(ii) It is necessary to make effective use of available pastures in different places.

(iii) When the pasture is exhausted or unusable in one place they move their herds and flocks to new areas.

(iv) The continuous movement also allowed the pastures to recover.

(v) It also prevents the overuse of pastures.

Ans. (a) During drought, the pastoralists move to areas where forage is available. That is why, traditionally, pastoralists have been nomadic. They move from place to place.  This nomadism allows them to survive in bad times and avoid crisis.

(b) They were cut off from the best grazing lands and forced to live within a semi-arid tract prone to frequent droughts. As a result of restrictions, large number of Maasai cattle died of starvation and disease in the years of drought. There was a steady decline of the animal stock of the pastoralists. An enquiry in 1930 showed that the Maasai in Kenya possessed 7,20,000 cattle, 8,20,000 sheep and 1,71,000 donkeys. In just two years of severe drought, 1933 and 1934, over half the cattle in the Maasai Reserve died.

Ans. (i) The central plateau of Maharashtra was a semi-arid region with low rain fall and poor soil.

(ii) It was covered with thorny scrub.

(iii) Nothing but dry crops like bajra could be sown here.

(iv) In the monsoon this tract become a vast grazing ground for the Dhanger flocks.

Ans. (a) The pastoralists adapted to new times in the following ways:

(i) They changed the paths of their annual movement.

(ii) They reduced their cattle number.

(iii) They pressed for rights to enter new areas

(iv) They exerted political on the government for relief, subsidy and other forms of support and demand a right in the management of forests and water resources.

(b) The pastoralists have a place in the modern world. The environmentalists and economists have increasingly come to recognise that pastoral nomadism is a form of life that is perfectly suited to many hilly and dry regions of the world.