Chapter 5 Pastoralists in the Modern World

The nomadic tribes need to migrate from one place to another in search of new pastures. When the grass in a particular part got exhausted and the season becomes unconducive, the nomadic tribes then migrates to some other area. The seasonal movement of nomadic tribes is very much beneficial for the environment. It allows regrowth of grass naturally in the pastureland. The movement of the nomadic pastoralists from the downward to the upward areas and vice-versa allowed appropriate time for natural restoration of vegetation grounds. Their continuous shifting provides sufficient forage to the various different animals; both at the high mountains and the lower hills. They also helped in maintaining the quality of the pastures.

Waste land rules: This law was brought to take control of the land that was not under the cultivation and also to increase in land could be used to increase the area under cultivation and also to increase land revenue. This rule shrunk the pastureland which was available earlier.

Forest act: These acts changed the life of pastoralists. They were now prevented from entering many forests that had provided the valuable forage for their cattles earlier. They issued permits which monitored their entry and exit into the forests at the particular time. Moreover these acts were also utilised to collect some revenue from the pastoralists.

Criminal Tribes Act: The British government eyed nomadic people with suspicion and disregard on the account of their continuous movement. They could not be tracked down or placed in one particular place not like the rural people in villages who were easy to identify and control. Hence, the colonial power represented nomadic tribes as criminal. This act trainshed the image of nomadic tribes which disturbed their relationship with peasants and other mainstream communities. It also badly affected their pastoralists.

Grazing tax: This was introduced in order to widen the tax net and to put a new burdern on the pastoralists. It was implied by the colonial government to expand its income. Pastoralists had to pay a tax on every animal that they grazed on the pastures. This right was now auctioned out to the contractors. They extracted as high tax as they could to recover the money that they had paid to the state and earn as much profit as they could.

The maasailand was parted into british german territories in year 1885. The new international boundaries restricted the movement of the maasai community. Moreover, declaration of a vast tract of pastureland into game reserve also reduced the pastureland for maasai.

Their traditional pasturelands were taken from them in declaring names of certain areas as the reserved forests. Second, they were forced out of several pastures in the name of cultivation expansion. From the 19th century onwards, the colonial government intialized imposing restrictions on the pastoral communities. They issued permits which allowed them to move out with their stock and was difficult to get permits without trouble and the harassment. Those found guilty of disobeying the rules were severely punished.