Question 4 - NCERT Questions - Chapter 5 Class 9 History - Pastoralists in the Modern World - History

There are many similarities in the way in which the modern world forced changes in the lives of pastoral communities in India and East Africa. Write about any two examples of changes which were similar for Indian pastoralists and the Maasai herders.

Answer:

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Two examples of changes which were similar for Indian pastoralists and the Maasai herders are

1. The decline in pasturelands

1. In India, the colonial government considered all the uncultivated lands as “ Wastelands ” as it was unproductive and not providing them with any revenue .
2. So, from the mid-nineteenth century, Waste Land Rules were enacted.
3. By these Rules, uncultivated lands were taken over and given to select individuals . In most areas, the lands taken over were grazing tracts used regularly by pastoralists . So the expansion of cultivation was a problem for pastoralists as it meant the decline of pastures .
4. In Africa, from the late nineteenth century, the British colonial government in east Africa encouraged local peasant communities to expand cultivation . 
5. As cultivation expanded , pasturelands were turned into cultivated fields . Declining the pasturelands for the Maasai community.

2. Closing of borders:

1. In Africa, in 1885 , Maasailand was cut into half with an international boundary between British Kenya and German Tanganyika .
2. Subsequently, the best grazing lands were gradually taken over for white settlement and the Maasai were pushed into a small area in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania .
3. In India , after 1947 the Raikas could no longer go to Sindh because of the political division of the India and Pakistan border . Hence they were forced to move to Haryana to search for new pastures .

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