Factors That Contributed of Movement of Pastoralists

Factors that Contributed of Movement of Pastoralists: The life of pastoral groups is not easy. It was sustained by a careful consideration of a host of factors are as follows:

They had to judge when and where to move otherwise both they and their herds could have been starved.

They had to judge how long the herds could stay in particular area.

They had also to know where they could find both pastures and water.

They had to calculate the timings of their movements so that green grasses and nutritious forage are available to their herds.

They had to make an estimate of the terrains they had to pass during their seasonal movements.

Above all, they had to combine different activities - like herding cultivation and trading etc. for their survival.

Colonial Rule and Pastoral Life: The Colonial Government made different laws from time to time which severely affected the lives of the pastoralists. Their grazing grounds shrank, their movements were regulated, they had to pay high revenue, their agricultural stock declined and their trades and crafts were also affected adversely. The colonial power believed that all grazing lands were wastelands because they were unproductive. These lands did not produce revenue or agricultural products. From the mid - 19th century, Wasteland Rules were enacted in various parts of our country.

The colonial rulers put so many hurdles in the way of the pastoralists. As such the pastroralists had to adopt new method to survive:

Since the availability of pastures was limited, so some of the pastoralists reduced the number of cattele in their herds.

Others tried to find or discover new pastures elsewhere.

Certain pastoralists, like the Raikas of Rajasthan, migrated to haryana where their sheep could graze on agriculture fields after the harvest are cut. Formerly, before 1947 , they used to migrate to sind , but with the partition of the country ,they could no longer go to sind, which had become a part of Pakistan. Their herds provided the manure which the fields require afresh foe new crops to grow.

Some pastroralists combined pastrol activity with same other activities like weaving blankets and trading.

So the adopting the above methods , the pastoralists have survived to this day. According to many scientist and ecologists in the dry and mountain regions pastrolism is still ecologically the most viable from of life.