Discuss why the colonial government in
India brought in the following laws. In each case, explain how the
law changed the lives of pastoralists:
Waste Land rules
Forest Acts
Criminal Tribes Act
Grazing Tax
Discuss why the colonial government in India brought in the following laws. In each case, explain how the law changed the lives of pastoralists:
Waste Land rules
Forest Acts
Criminal Tribes Act
Grazing Tax
(a) Waste Land rules: The colonial government considered any uncultivated land as unproductive. If this land could be transformed into cultivated farmland, it would result in an increase in land revenue and production of crops such as jute, cotton and wheat. This is why the Waste Land rules were formulated. However, they sounded the death knell for pastoralists because increase in cultivated land meant an obvious decline in pastures, and a consequent loss of a means of livelihood for them.
(b) Forest Acts: These placed forests in two dominant categories — reserved and protected. Reserved forests were for commercial use only, and were inaccessible to the pastoralists. In protected forests, the movements of pastoralists were severely restricted. Even for this severely limited and regulated access, pastoralists had to rely on government permits. The government enacted these laws because the trampling herds would destroy any young shoots and saplings that were planted for long-term commercial purposes.
(c) Criminal Tribes Act: The British government eyed nomadic people with suspicion and disregard on account of their continuous movement. They could not be tracked down or placed in one particular place, unlike rural people in villages who were easy to identify and control. Hence, the colonial power viewed nomadic tribes as criminal. The Criminal Tribes Act was passed in 1871 and it further ruined the lives of the pastoralists who were now forced to live in notified settlements, and were disallowed from moving out without a government permit.
(d) Grazing Tax: This was introduced in the 1850s to increase the government’s revenue income. The pastoralists were also badly hit by the higher tax that contractors exacted from them in order to make some private profit. Pastoralists could not afford to pay tax on cattle per head, and the only means to enter a grazing tract was by payment. All this led to tremendous losses for them.
(a) Waste Land rules: The colonial government considered any uncultivated land as unproductive. If this land could be transformed into cultivated farmland, it would result in an increase in land revenue and production of crops such as jute, cotton and wheat. This is why the Waste Land rules were formulated. However, they sounded the death knell for pastoralists because increase in cultivated land meant an obvious decline in pastures, and a consequent loss of a means of livelihood for them.
(b) Forest Acts: These placed forests in two dominant categories — reserved and protected. Reserved forests were for commercial use only, and were inaccessible to the pastoralists. In protected forests, the movements of pastoralists were severely restricted. Even for this severely limited and regulated access, pastoralists had to rely on government permits. The government enacted these laws because the trampling herds would destroy any young shoots and saplings that were planted for long-term commercial purposes.
(c) Criminal Tribes Act: The British government eyed nomadic people with suspicion and disregard on account of their continuous movement. They could not be tracked down or placed in one particular place, unlike rural people in villages who were easy to identify and control. Hence, the colonial power viewed nomadic tribes as criminal. The Criminal Tribes Act was passed in 1871 and it further ruined the lives of the pastoralists who were now forced to live in notified settlements, and were disallowed from moving out without a government permit.
(d) Grazing Tax: This was introduced in the 1850s to increase the government’s revenue income. The pastoralists were also badly hit by the higher tax that contractors exacted from them in order to make some private profit. Pastoralists could not afford to pay tax on cattle per head, and the only means to enter a grazing tract was by payment. All this led to tremendous losses for them.
