CBSE Class 9 Answered

The colonial rule and its law changed the lives of the peasants in the following ways: 

1. Because the government wanted to transform all the grazing lands into the agricultural lands to increase their revenues, the pastoralist lands were converted into agricultural lands. Thus, the pastoralist lands shrank considerably.

2. Various forest acts were passed in the nineteenth century. These acts declared many forests as reserved forests. Further, the pastoralist had to take permission from the government to graze their cattle in the protected forests. The movements of the pastoral communities were, thus, restricted, regulated and watched over. They could not spend more than the stipulated number of days which were granted to them in the forests. Imposition of restrictions on the grazing lands created a shortage of forage for animals. The problem became acute during famines where animals died in large numbers.

3. The British administrators were suspicious of nomadic pastoralists. They wanted these communities to settle down at one place and take up agriculture. Nomads came to be regarded as criminals. By the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871, the nomadic communities came to be regarded as criminals.

4. The British government taxed almost every commodity, in order to increase its revenues. So taxes were imposed even on cattle. Pastoralists had to pay taxes on every animal that grazed in the pastures. As a result, the number of cattle possessed by them drastically reduced.

5. Some pastoralists were able to cope up with colonial changes. While some reduced the number of cattle that they owned, some discovered new grazing lands. Rich pastoralists brought lands and settled at one place. However, many poor pastoralists got into vicious cycle of debt and lost their cattle.