Climate of India PDF

4 C LIMATE I n the last two chapters you have read about The climate of India is described as the the landforms and the drainage of ‘monsoon’ type. In Asia, this type of climate our country. These ar...

4 C LIMATE I n the last two chapters you have read about The climate of India is described as the the landforms and the drainage of ‘monsoon’ type. In Asia, this type of climate our country. These are the two of the three is found mainly in the south and the southeast. basic elements that one learns about the natural Despite an overall unity in the general pattern, environment of any area. In this chapter you there are perceptible regional variations in will learn about the third, that is, the climatic conditions within the country. Let us atmospheric conditions that prevail over our take two important elements – temperature and country. Why do we wear woollens in December precipitation, and examine how they vary from or why it is hot and uncomfortable in the month place to place and season to season. of May, and why it rains in June - July? The In summer, the mercury occasionally answers to all these questions can be found out touches 50°C in some parts of the Rajasthan by studying about the climate of India. desert, whereas it may be around 20°C in Climate refers to the sum total of weather Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir. On a winter conditions and variations over a large area for night, temperature at Drass in Jammu and a long period of time (more than thirty years). Kashmir may be as low as minus 45°C. Weather refers to the state of the atmosphere Thiruvananthapuram, on the other hand, may over an area at any point of time. The elements have a temperature of 22°C. of weather and climate are the same, i.e. temperature, atmospheric pressure, wind, In certain places there is a wide difference between day and night humidity and precipitation. You may have temperatures. In the Thar Desert the day observed that the weather conditions fluctuate temperature may rise to 50°C, and drop down very often even within a day. But there is some to near 15°C the same night. On the other hand, common pattern over a few weeks or months, there is hardly any difference in day and night i.e. days are cool or hot, windy or calm, cloudy temperatures in the Andaman and Nicobar islands or in Kerala. or bright, and wet or dry. On the basis of the generalised monthly atmospheric conditions, Let us now look at precipitation. There are the year is divided into seasons such as winter, variations not only in the form and types of summer or rainy seasons. The world is divided into a number of precipitation but also in its amount and the climatic regions. Do you know what type of seasonal distribution. While precipitation is climate India has and why it is so? We will mostly in the form of snowfall in the upper parts learn about it in this chapter. of Himalayas, it rains over the rest of the country. The annual precipitation varies from The word monsoon is over 400 cm in Meghalaya to less than 10 cm derived from the Arabic word ‘mausim’ which literally means season. in Ladakh and western Rajasthan. Most parts ‘Monsoon’ refers to the seasonal reversal in the of the country receive rainfall from June to wind direction during a year. September. But some parts like the Tamil Nadu Rationalised 2023-24 coast gets a large portion of its rain during October and November. Why most of the world’s deserts are In general, coastal areas experience less located in the western margins of continents in the subtropics? contrasts in temperature conditions. Seasonal contrasts are more in the interior of the Finally, relief too plays a major role in country. There is decrease in rainfall generally determining the climate of a place. High mountains from east to west in the Northern Plains. These act as barriers for cold or hot winds; they may variations have given rise to variety in lives of also cause precipitation if they are high enough people – in terms of the food they eat, the and lie in the path of rain-bearing winds. The clothes they wear and also the kind of houses leeward side of mountains remains relatively dry. they live in. Why the houses in Rajasthan have thick FACTORS AFFECTING INDIA’S CLIMATE walls and flat roofs? Why is it that the houses in the Tarai region and in Goa and Mangalore have sloping roofs? Latitude Why houses in Assam are built on stilts? The Tropic of Cancer passes through the middle of the country from the Rann of Kuchchh in the CLIMATIC CONTROLS west to Mizoram in the east. Almost half of the country, lying south of the Tropic of Cancer, There are six major controls of the climate of belongs to the tropical area. All the remaining any place. They are: latitude, altitude, area, north of the Tropic, lies in the sub-tropics. pressure and wind system, distance from Therefore, India’s climate has characteristics of the sea (continentality), ocean currents and tropical as well as subtropical climates. relief features. Due to the curvature of the earth, the Altitude amount of solar energy received varies according to latitude. As a result, air India has mountains to the north, which have temperature generally decreases from the an average height of about 6,000 metres. India equator towards the poles. As one goes from also has a vast coastal area where the the surface of the earth to higher altitudes, maximum elevation is about 30 metres. The the atmosphere becomes less dense and Himalayas prevent the cold winds from Central temperature decreases. The hills are therefore Asia from entering the subcontinent. It is cooler during summers. The pressure and because of these mountains that this wind system of any area depend on the subcontinent experiences comparatively latitude and altitude of the place. Thus it milder winters as compared to central Asia. influences the temperature and rainfall pattern. The sea exerts a moderating influence Pressure and Winds on climate: As the distance from the sea The climate and associated weather conditions increases, its moderating influence decreases in India are governed by the following and the people experience extreme weather atmospheric conditions: conditions. This condition is known as P rressur essur essuree and sur face winds; surface continentality (i.e. very hot during summers Upper air circulation; and and very cold during winters). Ocean currents Wester n cyclonic disturbances and along with onshore winds affect the climate of tropical cyclones cyclones. the coastal areas, For example, any coastal area with warm or cold currents flowing past India lies in the region of north easterly it, will be warmed or cooled if the winds are winds. These winds originate from the onshore. subtropical high-pressure belt of the northern CLIMATE 27 Rationalised 2023-24 hemisphere. They blow southwards, get advancing monsoon and the retreating deflected to the right due to the Coriolis force, monsoon with some regional variations. and move towards the equatorial low-pressure area. Generally, these winds carry little The Cold Weather Season (Winter) moisture as they originate and blow over land. The cold weather season begins from mid- Therefore, they bring little or no rain. Hence, November in northern India and stays till India should have been an arid land, but it is February. December and January are the not so. Let us see why? coldest months in the northern part of India. The temperature decreases from south to the Coriolis force: An apparent force caused by the north. The average temperature of Chennai, on earth’s rotation. The Coriolis force is responsible for deflecting winds towards the right in the northern the eastern coast, is between 24°– 25° Celsius, hemisphere and towards the left in the southern while in the northern plains, it ranges between hemisphere. This is also known as ‘Ferrel’s Law’. 10°C and 15° Celsius. Days are warm and nights are cold. Frost is common in the north The pressure and wind conditions over and the higher slopes of the Himalayas India are unique. During winter, there is a experience snowfall. high-pressure area north of the Himalayas. During this season, the northeast trade Cold dry winds blow from this region to the winds prevail over the country. They blow from low-pressure areas over the oceans to the land to sea and hence, for most part of the country, it is a dry season. Some amount of south. In summer, a low-pressure area rainfall occurs on the Tamil Nadu coast from develops over interior Asia, as well as, over these winds as, here they blow from sea to land. northwestern India. This causes a complete In the northern part of the country, a feeble reversal of the direction of winds during high-pressure region develops, with light winds summer. Air moves from the high-pressure moving outwards from this area. Influenced by area over the southern Indian Ocean, in a the relief, these winds blow through the Ganga south-easterly direction, crosses the equator, valley from the west and the northwest. The and turns right towards the low-pressure areas weather is normally marked by clear sky, low over the Indian subcontinent. These are known temperatures and low humidity and feeble, as the Southwest Monsoon winds. These winds variable winds. blow over the warm oceans, gather moisture A characteristic feature of the cold weather and bring widespread rainfall over the season over the northern plains is the inflow of mainland of India. cyclonic disturbances from the west and the northwest. These low-pressure systems, originate over the Mediterranean Sea and THE S EASONS western Asia and move into India, along with The monsoon type of climate is characterised the westerly flow. They cause the much-needed by a distinct seasonal pattern. The weather winter rains over the plains and snowfall in the conditions greatly change from one season to mountains. Although the total amount of the other. These changes are particularly winter rainfall locally known as ‘mahawat’ is noticeable in the interior parts of the country. small, they are of immense importance for the The coastal areas do not experience much cultivation of ‘rabi’ crops. variation in temperature though there is The peninsular region does not have a well- variation in rainfall pattern. How many seasons defined cold season. There is hardly any are experienced in your place? Four main noticeable seasonal change in temperature seasons can be identified in India – the cold pattern during winters due to the moderating weather season, the hot weather season, the influence of the sea. 28 CONTEMPORARY INDIA-I Rationalised 2023-24  Figure 4.1 : Advancing Monsoon CLIMATE 29 Rationalised 2023-24 The Hot Weather Season (Summer) Advancing Monsoon (The Rainy Season) Due to the apparent northward movement of By early June, the low-pressure condition over the sun, the global heat belt shifts northwards. the northern plains intensifies. It attracts, the As such, from March to May, it is hot weather trade winds of the southern hemisphere. These season in India. The influence of the shifting of south-east trade winds originate over the the heat belt can be seen clearly from warm subtropical areas of the southern oceans. temperature recordings taken during March- They cross the equator and blow in a south- May at different latitudes. In March, the highest westerly direction entering the Indian peninsula as the south-west monsoon. As these winds temperature is about 38° Celsius, recorded on blow over warm oceans, they bring abundant the Deccan plateau. In April, temperatures in moisture to the subcontinent. These winds are Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh are around 42° strong and blow at an average velocity of 30 Celsius. In May, temperature of 45° Celsius is km per hour. With the exception of the extreme common in the northwestern parts of the north-west, the monsoon winds cover the country. In peninsular India, temperatures country in about a month. remain lower due to the moderating influence The inflow of the south-west monsoon into of the oceans. India brings about a total change in the The summer months experience rising weather. Early in the season, the windward temperature and falling air pressure in the side of the Western Ghats receives very heavy northern part of the country. Towards the end rainfall, more than 250 cm. The Deccan of May, an elongated low-pressure area Plateau and parts of Madhya Pradesh also develops in the region extending from the Thar receive some amount of rain in spite of lying Desert in the northwest to Patna and in the rain shadow area. The maximum rainfall Chotanagpur plateau in the east and of this season is received in the north-eastern southeast. Circulation of air begins to set in part of the country. Mawsynram in the southern ranges of the Khasi Hills receives the around this trough. highest average rainfall in the world. Rainfall A striking feature of the hot weather season in the Ganga valley decreases from the east to is the ‘loo’. These are strong, gusty, hot, dry the west. Rajasthan and parts of Gujarat get winds blowing during the day over the north scanty rainfall. and northwestern India. Sometimes they even Another phenomenon associated with the continue until late in the evening. Direct monsoon is its tendency to have ‘breaks’ in exposure to these winds may even prove to be rainfall. Thus, it has wet and dry spells. In fatal. Dust storms are very common during the other words, the monsoon rains take place month of May in northern India. These storms only for a few days at a time. They are bring temporary relief as they lower the interspersed with rainless intervals. These temperature and may bring light rain and cool breaks in monsoon are related to the breeze. This is also the season for localised movement of the monsoon trough. For thunderstorms, associated with violent winds, various reasons, the trough and its axis keep on moving northward or southward, which torrential downpours, often accompanied by determines the spatial distribution of rainfall. hail. In West Bengal, these storms are known When the axis of the monsoon trough lies over as the ‘Kaal Baisakhi’. the plains, rainfall is good in these parts. On Towards the close of the summer season, the other hand, whenever the axis shifts closer pre-monsoon showers are common especially, to the Himalayas, there are longer dry spells in Kerala and Karnataka. They help in the early in the plains, and widespread rain occur in ripening of mangoes, and are often referred to the mountainous catchment areas of the as ‘mango showers’. Himalayan rivers. These heavy rains bring in 30 CONTEMPORARY INDIA-I Rationalised 2023-24  Figure 4.2 : Retreating Monsoon CLIMATE 31 Rationalised 2023-24 their wake, devastating floods causing The low-pressure conditions, over north- damage to life and property in the plains. The western India, get transferred to the Bay of frequency and intensity of tropical Bengal by early November. This shift is depressions too, determine the amount and associated with the occurrence of cyclonic duration of monsoon rains. These depressions, which originate over the depressions form at the head of the Bay of Andaman Sea. These cyclones generally cross Bengal and cross over to the mainland. The the eastern coasts of India cause heavy and depressions follow the axis of the “monsoon widespread rain. These tropical cyclones are trough of low pressure”. The monsoon is often very destructive. The thickly populated known for its uncertainties. The alternation deltas of the Godavari, the Krishna and the of dry and wet spells vary in intensity, Kaveri are frequently struck by cyclones, which frequency and duration. While it causes heavy cause great damage to life and property. floods in one part, it may be responsible for Sometimes, these cyclones arrive at the coasts droughts in the other. It is often irregular in of Odisha, West Bengal and Bangladesh. The its arrival and its retreat. Hence, it sometimes bulk of the rainfall of the Coromandel Coast is disturbs the farming schedule of millions of derived from depressions and cyclones. farmers all over the country. D ISTRIBUTION OF R AINFALL Retreating/Post Monsoons Parts of western coast and northeastern India (The Transition Season) receive over about 400 cm of rainfall annually. During October-November, with the apparent However, it is less than 60 cm in western movement of the sun towards the south, the Rajasthan and adjoining parts of Gujarat, monsoon trough or the low-pressure trough Haryana and Punjab. Rainfall is equally low in the interior of the Deccan plateau, and east over the northern plains becomes weaker. This of the Sahyadris. Why do these regions receive is gradually replaced by a high-pressure low rainfall? A third area of low precipitation system. The south-west monsoon winds is around Leh in Jammu and Kashmir. The rest weaken and start withdrawing gradually. By of the country receives moderate rainfall. the beginning of October, the monsoon Snowfall is restricted to the Himalayan region. withdraws from the Northern Plains. Owing to the nature of monsoons, the The months of October-November form a annual rainfall is highly variable from year to period of transition from hot rainy season to year. Variability is high in the regions of low dry winter conditions. The retreat of the rainfall, such as parts of Rajasthan, Gujarat monsoon is marked by clear skies and rise in and the leeward side of the Western Ghats. As such, while areas of high rainfall are liable to be affected by floods, areas of low rainfall are Mawsynram, the wettest drought-prone (Figure 4.3). place on the earth is also reputed for its stalagmite and stalactite caves. MONSOON AS A U NIFYING B OND temperature. While day temperatures are You have already known the way the Himalayas high, nights are cool and pleasant. The land protect the subcontinent from extremely cold is still moist. Owing to the conditions of high winds from central Asia. This enables northern temperature and humidity, the weather India to have uniformly higher temperatures becomes rather oppressive during the day. compared to other areas on the same latitudes. This is commonly known as ‘October heat’. In Similarly, the Peninsular plateau, under the the second half of October, the mercury begins influence of the sea from three sides, has to fall rapidly in northern India. moderate temperatures. Despite such 32 CONTEMPORARY INDIA-I Rationalised 2023-24  Figure 4.3 : Annual Rainfall CLIMATE 33 Rationalised 2023-24 34 CONTEMPORARY INDIA-I Activity (i) On the basis of the news items above, find out the names of places and the seasons described. (ii) Compare the rainfall description of Chennai and Mumbai and explain the reasons for the difference. (iii) Evaluate flood as a disaster with the help of a case study. Rationalised 2023-24 moderating influences, there are great entire agricultural calendar and the life of the variations in the temperature conditions. people, including their festivities, revolve Nevertheless, the unifying influence of the around this phenomenon. Year after year, monsoon on the Indian subcontinent is quite people of India from north to south and from perceptible. The seasonal alteration of the wind east to west, eagerly await the arrival of the systems and the associated weather conditions monsoon. These monsoon winds bind the provide a rhythmic cycle of seasons. Even the whole country by providing water to set the uncertainties of rain and uneven distribution agricultural activities in motion. The river are very much typical of the monsoons. The valleys which carry this water also unite as a Indian landscape, its animal and plant life, its single river valley unit. E XERCISE 1. Choose the correct answer from the four alternatives given below. (i) Which one of the following places receives the highest rainfall in the world? (a) Silchar (c) Cherrapunji (b) Mawsynram (d) Guwahati (ii) The wind blowing in the northern plains in summers is known as: (a) Kaal Baisakhi (c) Trade Winds (b) Loo (d) None of the above (iii) Monsoon arrives in India approximately in: (a) Early May (c) Early June (b) Early July (d) Early August (iv) Which one of the following characterises the cold weather season in India? (a) Warm days and warm nights (b) Warm days and cold nights (c) Cool days and cold nights (d) Cold days and warm nights 2. Answer the following questions briefly. (i) What are the controls affecting the climate of India? (ii) Why does India have a monsoon type of climate? (iii) Which part of India does experience the highest diurnal range of temperature and why? (iv) Which winds account for rainfall along the Malabar coast? (v) Define monsoons. What do you understand by “break” in monsoon? (vi) Why is the monsoon considered a unifying bond? 3. Why does the rainfall decrease from the east to the west in Northern India. CLIMATE 35 Rationalised 2023-24  4. Give reasons as to why. (i) Seasonal reversal of wind direction takes place over the Indian subcontinent? (ii) The bulk of rainfall in India is concentrated over a few months. (iii) The Tamil Nadu coast receives winter rainfall. (iv) The delta region of the eastern coast is frequently struck by cyclones. (v) Parts of Rajasthan, Gujarat and the leeward side of the Western Ghats are drought-prone. 5. Describe the regional variations in the climatic conditions of India with the help of suitable examples. 6. Give an account of weather conditions and characteristics of the cold season. 7. Give the characteristics and effects of the monsoon rainfall in India. M AP S KILLS On an outline map of India, show the following. (i) Areas receiving rainfall over 400 cm. (ii) Areas receiving less than 20 cm of rainfall. (iii) The direction of the south-west monsoon over India. P ROJECT /A CTIVITY (i) Find out which songs, dances, festivals and special food preparations are associated with certain seasons in your region. Do they have some commonality with other regions of India? (ii) Collect photographs of typical rural houses, and clothing of people from different regions of India. Examine whether they reflect any relationship with the climatic condition and relief of the area. FOR DOING IT YOURSELF Figure 1 : Temperature and Rainfall of Delhi 1. In Table-I, the average mean monthly temperatures and amounts of rainfall of 10 representative stations have been given. It is for you to study on your own and convert them into ‘temperature and rainfall’ graphs. A glance at these visual representations will help you to grasp instantly the smilarities and differences between them. One such graph (Figure 1) is already prepared for you. See if you can arrive at some broad generalisations about our diverse climatic conditions. We hope you are in for a great joy of learning. Do the following activities. 2. Re-arrange the 10 stations in two different sequences: 36 CONTEMPORARY INDIA-I Rationalised 2023-24  (i) According to their distance from the equator. (ii) According to their altitude above mean sealevel. 3. (i) Name two rainiest stations. (ii) Name two driest stations. (iii) Two stations with most equable climate. (iv) Two stations with most extreme climate. (v) Two stations influenced by retreating monsoons. (vi) The two hottest stations in the months of (a) February (b) April (c) May (d) June Table I Stations Latitude Altitude J a n. F e b. M a r. Apr. M a y. J u n. J u l. A u g. S e p. O c t. N o v. D e c. A n n u a l (Metres) Rainfall Temperature (°C) 20.5 22.7 25.2 27.1 26.7 24.2 23.0 23.0 23.1 22.9 18.9 20.2 Bengaluru 12°58'N 909 Rainfall (cm) 0.7 0.9 1.1 4.5 10.7 7.1 11.1 13.7 16.4 15.3 6.1 1.3 88.9 Temperature (°C) 24.4 24.4 26.7 28.3 30.0 28.9 27.2 27.2 27.2 27.8 27.2 25.0 Mumbai 19° N 11 Rainfall (cm) 0.2 0.2 – – 1.8 50.6 61.0 36.9 26.9 4.8 1.0 – 183.4 Temperature (°C) 19.6 22.0 27.1 30.1 30.4 29.9 28.9 28.7 28.9 27.6 23.4 19.7 Kolkata 22°34' N 6 Rainfall (cm) 1.2 2.8 3.4 5.1 13.4 29.0 33.1 33.4 25.3 12.7 2.7 0.4 162.5 Temperature (°C) 14.4 16.7 23.3 30.0 33.3 33.3 30.0 29.4 28.9 25.6 19.4 15.6 Delhi 29° N 219 Rainfall (cm) 2.5 1.5 1.3 1.0 1.8 7.4 19.3 17.8 11.9 1.3 0.2 1.0 67.0 Temperature (°C) 16.8 19.2 26.6 29.8 33.3 33.9 31.3 29.0 20.1 27.0 20.1 14.9 Jodhpur 26°18' N 224 Rainfall (cm) 0.5 0.6 0.3 0.3 1.0 3.1 10.8 13.1 5.7 0.8 0.2 0.2 36.6 Temperature (°C) 24.5 25.7 27.7 30.4 33.0 32.5 31.0 30.2 29.8 28.0 25.9 24.7 Chennai 13°4' N 7 Rainfall (cm) 4.6 1.3 1.3 1.8 3.8 4.5 8.7 11.3 11.9 30.6 35.0 13.9 128.6 Temperature (°C) 21.5 23.9 28.3 32.7 35.5 32.0 27.7 27.3 27.9 26.7 23.1 20.7 Nagpur 21°9' N 312 Rainfall (cm) 1.1 2.3 1.7 1.6 2.1 22.2 37.6 28.6 18.5 5.5 2.0 1.0 124.2 Temperature (°C) 9.8 11.3 15.9 18.5 19.2 20.5 21.1 20.9 20.0 17.2 13.3 10.4 Shillong 24°34' N 1461 Rainfall (cm) 1.4 2.9 5.6 14.6 29.5 47.6 35.9 34.3 30.2 18.8 3.8 0.6 225.3 Temperature (°C) 26.7 27.3 28.3 28.7 28.6 26.6 26.2 2.6.2 26.5 26.7 26.6 26.5 Thiruvananthapuram 8°29' N 61 Rainfall (cm) 2.3 2.1 3.7 10.6 20.8 35.6 22.3 14.6 13.8 27.3 20.6 7.5 181.2 Temperature (°C) – 8.5 – 7.2 – 0.6 6.1 10.0 14.4 17.2 16.1 12.2 6.1 0.0 – 5.6 Leh 34° N 34°N 3506 Rainfall (cm) 1.0 0.8 0.8 0.5 0.5 0.5 1.3 1.3 0.8 0.5 – 0.5 8.5 CLIMATE 37 Rationalised 2023-24 4. Now find out (i) Why are Thiruvananthapuram and Shillong rainier in June than in July? (ii) Why is July rainier in Mumbai than in Thiruvananthapuram? (iii) Why are southwest monsoons less rainy in Chennai? (iv) Why is Shillong rainier than Kolkata? (v) Why is Kolkata rainier in July than in June unlike Shillong which is rainier in June than in July? (vi) Why does Delhi receive more rain than Jodhpur? 5. Now think why — Thiruvananthapuram has equable climate? — Chennai has more rains only after the fury of monsoon is over in most parts of the country? — Jodhpur has a hot desert type of climate? — Leh has moderate precipitation almost throughut the year? — while in Delhi and Jodhpur most of the rain is confined to nearly three months, in Thiruvananthapuram and Shillong it is almost nine months of the year? In spite of these facts see carefully if there are strong evidences to conclude that the monsoons still provide a very strong framework lending overall climatic unity to the whole country. 38 CONTEMPORARY INDIA-I Rationalised 2023-24  3 Chapter Poverty as a Challenge Overview dhabas. They could also be beggars with This chapter deals with one of the most children in tatters. We see poverty all difficult challenges faced by independent around us. In fact, every fifth person in India—poverty. After discussing this India is poor. (This means, roughly 270 multi-dimensional problem through million (or 27 crore) people in India live examples, the chapter discusses the way in poverty 2011-12.) This also means that poverty is seen in social sciences. Poverty India has the largest single concentration trends in India and the world are of the poor in the world. This illustrates illustrated through the concept of the the seriousness of the challenge. poverty line. Causes of poverty as well as anti-poverty measures taken by the Two Typical Cases of Poverty government are also discussed. The chapter ends with broadening the official Urban Case concept of poverty into human poverty. Thirty-three year old Ram Saran works as a daily-wage labourer in a wheat Introduction flour mill near Ranchi in Jharkhand. In our daily life, we come across many He manages to earn around Rs 1,500 people who we think are poor. They could a month when he finds employment, be landless labourers in villages or people which is not often. The money is not living in overcrowded jhuggis in cities. They enough to sustain his family of six— could be daily wage workers at that includes his wife and four children construction sites or child workers in aged between 12 years to six months. Picture 3.1 Story of Ram Saran Poverty as a Challenge 29 Rationalised 2023-24  He has to send money home to his old Rural case parents who live in a village near Lakha Singh belongs to a small village Ramgarh. His father a landless near Meerut in Uttar Pradesh. His labourer, depends on Ram Saran and family doesn’t own any land, so they his brother who lives in Hazaribagh, do odd jobs for the big farmers. Work for sustenance. Ram Saran lives in a is erratic and so is income. At times one-room rented house in a crowded they get paid Rs 50 for a hard day’s basti in the outskirts of the city. It’s a work. But often it’s in kind like a few temporary shack built of bricks and kilograms of wheat or dal or even clay tiles. His wife Santa Devi, works vegetables for toiling in the farm as a part time maid in a few houses through the day. The family of eight and manages to earn another Rs 800. cannot always manage two square They manage a meagre meal of dal and meals a day. Lakha lives in a kuchha rice twice a day, but there’s never hut on the outskirts of the village. enough for all of them. His elder son The women of the family spend the works as a helper in a tea shop to day chopping fodder and collecting supplement the family income and firewood in the fields. His father a earns another Rs 300, while his 10- TB patient, passed away two years year-old daughter takes care of the ago due to lack of medication. His younger siblings. None of the children mother now suffers from the same go to school. They have only two pairs disease and life is slowly ebbing away. of hand-me-down clothes each. New Although, the village has a primary ones are bought only when the old school, Lakha never went there. He clothes become unwearable. Shoes are had to start earning when he was 10 a luxury. The younger kids are years old. New clothes happen once undernourished. They have no access in a few years. Even soap and oil are to healthcare when they fall ill. a luxury for the family. Study the above cases of poverty and discuss the following issues related to poverty: Landlessness Unemployment Size of families Illiteracy Poor health/malnutrition Child labour Helplessness Picture 3.2 Story of Lakha Singh 30 Economics Rationalised 2023-24 These two typical cases illustrate many both a cause as well as a dimensions of poverty. They show that consequence of poverty in the usual poverty means hunger and lack of shelter. sense. Broadly, it is a process through It also is a situation in which parents are which individuals or groups are not able to send their children to school excluded from facilities, benefits and or a situation where sick people cannot opportunities that others (their afford treatment. Poverty also means lack “betters”) enjoy. A typical example is of clean water and sanitation facilities. It the working of the caste system in also means lack of a regular job at a India in which people belonging to minimum decent level. Above all it means certain castes are excluded from living with a sense of helplessness. Poor equal opportunities. Social exclusion people are in a situation in which they thus may lead to, but can cause more are ill-treated at almost every place, in damage than, having a very low farms, factories, government offices, income. hospitals, railway stations etc. Obviously, Vulnerability nobody would like to live in poverty. One of the biggest challenges of Vulnerability to poverty is a measure, independent India has been to bring which describes the greater millions of its people out of abject poverty. probability of certain communities Mahatama Gandhi always insisted that (say, members of a backward caste) India would be truly independent only or individuals (such as a widow or a when the poorest of its people become free physically handicapped person) of of human suffering. becoming, or remaining, poor in the coming years. Vulnerability is Poverty as seen by social scientists determined by the options available Since poverty has many facets, social to different communities for finding scientists look at it through a variety of an alternative living in terms of indicators. Usually the indicators used assets, education, health and job relate to the levels of income and opportunities. Further, it is analysed consumption. But now poverty is looked on the basis of the greater risks these through other social indicators like groups face at the time of natural illiteracy level, lack of general resistance disasters (earthquakes, tsunami), due to malnutrition, lack of access to terrorism etc. Additional analysis is healthcare, lack of job opportunities, lack made of their social and economic of access to safe drinking water, ability to handle these risks. In fact, sanitation etc. Analysis of poverty based vulnerability describes the greater on social exclusion and vulnerability is probability of being more adversely now becoming very common (see box). affected than other people when bad time comes for everybody, whether a Social exclusion flood or an earthquake or simply a fall in the availability of jobs! According to this concept, poverty must be seen in terms of the poor having to live only in a poor Poverty Line surrounding with other poor people, At the centre of the discussion on poverty excluded from enjoying social equality is usually the concept of the “poverty line”. of better-of f people in better A common method used to measure surroundings. Social exclusion can be poverty is based on the income or Poverty as a challenge 31 Rationalised 2023-24 consumption levels. A person is higher amount for urban areas has been considered poor if his or her income or fixed because of high prices of many consumption level falls below a given essential products in urban centres. In “minimum level” necessary to fulfill the this way in the year 2011-12, a family of basic needs. What is necessary to satisfy five members living in rural areas and the basic needs is different at different earning less than about Rs 4,080 per times and in different countries. month will be below the poverty line. A Therefore, poverty line may vary with time similar family in the urban areas would and place. Each country uses an need a minimum of Rs 5,000 per month imaginary line that is considered to meet their basic requirements. The appropriate for its existing level of poverty line is estimated periodically development and its accepted minimum (normally every five years) by conducting social norms. For example, a person not sample surveys. These surveys are having a car in the United States may be carried out by the National Sample Survey considered poor. In India, owning of a car O rganisation (NSSO). However, for is still considered a luxury. making comparisons between developing While determining the poverty line in countries, many international India, a minimum level of food requirement, organisations like the World Bank use a clothing, fo otwear, fuel and light, uniform standard for the poverty line: educational and medical requirement, etc., minimum availability of the equivalent of are determined for subsistence. These $1.90 per person per day (2011, ppp). physical quantities are multiplied by their prices in rupees. The present formula for Let’s Discuss food requirement while estimating the Discuss the following: poverty line is based on the desired calorie requirement. Food items, such as Why do different countries use different cereals, pulses, vegetable, milk, oil, sugar, poverty lines? etc., together provide these needed What do you think would be the calories. The calorie needs vary depending “minimum necessary level” in your on age, sex and the type of work that a locality? person does. The accepted average calorie requirement in India is 2400 calories per Poverty Estimates person per day in rural areas and 2100 It is clear from Table 3.1 that there is a calories per person per day in urban substantial decline in poverty ratios in areas. Since people living in rural areas India from about 45 per cent in 1993-94 engage themselves in more physical work, to 37.2 per cent in 2004–05. The calorie requirements in rural areas are proportion of people below poverty line considered to be higher than in urban further came down to about 22 per cent areas. The monetary expenditure per in 2011–12. If the trend continues, people capita needed for buying these calorie below poverty line may come down to less requirements in terms of food grains, etc., than 20 per cent in the next few years. is revised periodically taking into Although the percentage of people living consideration the rise in prices. under poverty declined in the earlier two On the basis of these calculations, for decades (1973–1993), the number of poor the year 2011–12, the poverty line for a declined from 407 million in 2004–05 to person was fixed at Rs 816 per month for 270 million in 2011–12 with an average rural areas and Rs 1000 for urban areas. annual decline of 2.2 percentage points Despite less calorie requirement,the during 2004–05 to 2011–12. 32 Economics Rationalised 2023-24  Table 3.1: Estimates of Poverty in India (Tendulkar Methodology) Poverty ratio (%) Number of poor (in millions) Year Rural Urban Total Rural Urban Combined 1993–94 50 32 45 329 75 404 2004–05 42 26 37 326 81 407 2009–10 34 21 30 278 76 355 2011–12 26 14 22 217 53 270 Source: India in figures, 2018, Government of India Central Statistics office. niti.gov.in/statestatistics (accessed on Nov. 15, 2021) Let’s Discuss among the economic groups, the most vulnerable groups are the rural Study Table 3.1 and answer the following agricultural labour households and the questions: urban casual labour households. Graph Even if poverty ratio declined between 3.1 shows the percentage of poor people 1993–94 and 2004–05, why did the in all these groups. Although the average number of poor remain at about 407 for people below poverty line for all groups million? in India is 22, 43 out of 100 people Are the dynamics of poverty reduction belonging to Scheduled Tribes are not the same in rural and urban India? able to meet their basic needs. Similarly, 34 per cent of casual workers in urban Vulnerable Groups areas are below poverty line. About 34 The proportion of people below poverty line per cent of casual labour farm (in rural is also not same for all social groups and areas) and 29 per cent of Scheduled economic categories in India. Social C a s t e s a r e a l s o p o o r. The double groups, which are most vulnerable to disadvantage of being a landless casual poverty are Scheduled Caste and wage labour household in the socially Scheduled Tribe households. Similarly, disadvantaged social groups of the Graph 3.1: Poverty in India 2011–12: Most Vulnerable Groups Source: www.worldbank.org/2016/India-s-Poverty-Profile (accessed on 29.09.2021) Poverty as a Challenge 33 Rationalised 2023-24  Picture 3.3 Story of Sivaraman scheduled caste or the scheduled tribe Story of Sivaraman population highlights the seriousness of Sivaraman lives in a small village the problem. Some recent studies have near Karur town in Tamil Nadu. Karur shown that except for the scheduled tribe is famous for its handloom and households, all the other three groups (i.e. powerloom fabrics. There are a 100 scheduled castes, rural agricultural families in the village. Sivaraman an labourers and the urban casual labour Aryunthathiyar (cobbler) by caste now households) have seen a decline in poverty works as an agricultural labourer for in the 1990s. Rs 160 per day. But that’s only for Apart from these social groups, there five to six months in a year. At other is also inequality of incomes within a times, he does odd jobs in the town. His wife Sasikala too works with him. family. In poor families all suffer, but some But she can rarely find work these suffer more than others. In some cases days, and even if she does, she’s paid women, elderly people and female infants Rs 100 per day for the same work that are denied equal access to resources Sivaraman does. There are eight available to the family. members in the family. Sivaraman’s 65 year old widowed mother is ill and 34 Economics Rationalised 2023-24  seventies, the success rate of reducing needs to be helped with her daily poverty varies from state to state. Recent chores. He has a 25-year -old estimates show while the all India Head unmarried sister and four children Count Ratio (HCR) was 21.9 per cent in aged between 1 year to 16 years. 2011-12 states like Madhya Pradesh, Three of them are girls, the youngest Assam, Uttar Pardesh, Bihar and Odisha is a son. None of the girls go to school. had above all India poverty level. As the Buying books and other things for Graph 3.2 shows, Bihar and Odisha school-going girls is a luxury he continue to be the two poorest states with cannot afford. Also, he has to get them poverty ratios of 33.7 and 32.6 per cent married at some point of time so he respectively. Along with rural poverty, doesn’t want to spend on their urban poverty is also high in Odisha, education now. His mother has lost Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. interest in life and is just waiting to In comparison, there has been a die someday. His sister and elder significant decline in poverty in Kerala, daughter take care of the household. Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Sivaraman plans to send his son to Nadu, Gujarat and West Bengal. States school when he comes of age. His like Punjab and Haryana have unmarried sister does not get along traditionally succeeded in reducing with his wife. Sasikala finds her a poverty with the help of high agricultural burden but Sivaraman can’t find a growth rates. Kerala has focused more on suitable groom due to lack of money. human resource development. In West Although the family has difficulty in Bengal, land reform measures have arranging two meals a day, helped in reducing poverty. In Andhra Sivaraman manages to buy milk once Pradesh and Tamil Nadu public in a while, but only for his son. distribution of food grains could have been responsible for the improvement. Let’s Discuss Global Poverty Scenario Observe some of the poor families The proportion of people in different around you and try to find the following: countries living in extreme economic poverty— defined by the World Bank as Which social and economic group do living on less than $1.90 per day—has they belong to? fallen from 36 per cent in 1990 to 10 per cent Who are the earning members in the in 2015. Although there has been a family? substantial reduction in global poverty, it What is the condition of the old people is marked with great regional differences. in the family? Poverty declined substantially in China Are all the children (boys and girls) and Southeast Asian countries as a result attending schools? of rapid economic growth and massive investments in human resource Inter-State Disparities development. Number of poors in China Poverty in India also has another aspect has come down from 88.3 per cent in 1981 or dimension. The proportion of poor to 14.7 per cent in 2008 to 0.6 per cent people is not the same in every state. in 2019. In the countries of South Asia Although state level poverty has witnessed (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, a secular decline from the levels of early Bangladesh, Bhutan) the decline has also Poverty as a challenge 35 Rationalised 2023-24  Graph 3.2: Poverty Ratio in Selected Indian States, (As per 2011 Census) Source: Economic Survey 2020–21, Government of India, 2021. Let’s Discuss The new sustainable development goals Study the Graph 3.2 and do the following: of the United Nations (UN) proposes Identify the three states where the ending poverty of all types by 2030. poverty ratio is the highest. Identify the three states where poverty Let’s Discuss ratio is the lowest. Study the Graph 3.4 and do the following: Identify the areas of the world, where been rapid 34 per cent in 2005 to 15.2 poverty ratios have declined. per cent in 2014. With decline in the percentage of the poor, the number of Identify the area of the globe which has poor has also declined significantly from the largest concentration of the poor. 510.4 million in 2005 to 274.5 million in Table 3.2: Poverty: Head Count Ratio 2013. Because of different poverty line Comparison among Some Selected Countries definition, poverty in India is also shown higher than the national estimates. Country % of Population below In Sub-Saharan Africa, poverty in fact $1.90 a day (2011ppp) declined from 51 per cent in 2005 to 40.2 1. Nigeria 39.1 (2018) per cent in 2018 (see graph 3.3). In Latin 2. Bangladesh 14.3 (2016) America, the ratio of poverty has also 3. India 22.5 (2011) declined from 10 per cent in 2005 to 4 4. Pakistan 4.4 (2018) per cent in 2018 (see graph 3.3). Poverty 5. China 0.5 (2016) has also resurfaced in some of the former 6. Brazil 4.6 (2019) socialist countries like Russia, where 7. Indonesia 2.7 (2019) officially it was non-existent earlier. Table 3.2 shows the proportion of people living 8. Sri Lanka 0.9 (2016) under poverty in different countries as Source: Poverty and Equity Database, World defined by the international poverty line Bank Data; (databank.worldbank.org) accessed (means population below $1.90 a day). on 01.10.2021. 36 Economics Rationalised 2023-24  Graph 3.3: Share of people living on $1.90 a day, 2005–2019 140 120 100 South Asia Percentage 80 La!n merica and Carribean Sub-sharan Africa 60 East asia and Pacific 40 China 20 0 2005 2010 2013 2015 2019 Year Source: Poverty and Equity Database; World Bank (http://databank.worldbank.org/data/reports.aspx?source=poverty-and-equity-database) Graph 3.4: Number of poor by region ($ 1.90 per day) in millions By 2030, forecasts indicate that nearly 9 in10 of the extreme poor will live in Sub-Saharan Africa. Source: World Bank PovcalNet and Poverty & Equity Data Portal (http://databank.worldbank.org/data/reports.aspx?source=poverty-and-equity-database) Poverty as a Challenge 37 Rationalised 2023-24 Causes of Poverty effectively by most of the state governments. Since lack of land resources There were a number of causes for the has been one of the major causes of widespread poverty in India. One poverty in India, proper implementation historical reason is the low level of of policy could have improved the life of economic development under the British millions of rural poor. colonial administration. The policies of Many other socio-cultural and the colonial government ruined traditional economic factors also are responsible for handicrafts and discouraged development poverty. In order to fulfil social obligations of industries like textiles. The low rate of and observe religious ceremonies, people growth persisted until the nineteen- in India, including the very poor, spend a eighties. This resulted in less job lot of money. Small farmers need money opportunities and low growth rate of to buy agricultural inputs like seeds, incomes. This was accompanied by a high fertilizer, pesticides etc. Since poor people growth rate of population. The two hardly have any savings, they borrow. combined to make the growth rate of per Unable to repay because of poverty, they capita income very low. The failure at both become victims of indebtedness. So the the fronts: promotion of economic growth high level of indebtedness is both the and population control perpetuated the cause and effect of poverty. cycle of poverty. With the spread of irrigation and the Anti-Poverty Measures Green revolution, many job opportunities Removal of poverty has been one of the were created in the agriculture sector. But major objectives of Indian developmental the effects were limited to some parts of strategy. The current anti-poverty India. The industries, both in the public strategy of the government is based and the private sector, did provide some broadly on two planks (1) promotion of jobs. But these were not enough to absorb economic growth (2) targeted anti-poverty all the job seekers. Unable to find proper programmes. jobs in cities, many people started working Over a period of thirty years lasting as rickshaw pullers, vendors, up to the early eighties, there were little construction workers, domestic servants per capita income growth and not much etc. With irregular small incomes, these reduction in poverty. Official poverty people could not afford expensive housing. estimates which were about 45 per cent They started living in slums on the in the early 1950s remained the same even outskirts of the cities and the problems in the early eighties. Since the eighties, of poverty, largely a rural phenomenon India’s economic growth has been one of also became the feature of the urban the fastest in the world. The growth rate sector. jumped from the average of about 3.5 per Another feature of high poverty rates cent a year in the 1970s to about 6 per has been the huge income inequalities. cent during the 1980s and 1990s. The One of the major reasons for this is the higher growth rates have helped unequal distribution of land and other significantly in the reduction of poverty. resources. Despite many policies, we have Therefore, it is becoming clear that there not been able to tackle the issue in a is a strong link between economic growth meaningful manner. Major policy and poverty reduction. Economic growth initiatives like land reforms which aimed widens opportunities and provides the at redistribution of assets in rural areas resources needed to invest in human have not been implemented properly and development. This also encourages people 38 Economics Rationalised 2023-24 to send their children, including the girl for educated unemployed youth in rural child, to schools in the hope of getting areas and small towns. They are helped in better economic returns from investing setting up small business and industries. in education. However, the poor may not Rural Employment Generation Programme be able to take direct advantage from the (REGP) was launched in 1995. The aim of opportunities created by economic the programme is to create self- growth. Moreover, growth in the employment opportunities in rural areas agriculture sector is much below and small towns. A target for creating 25 expectations. This has a direct bearing lakh new jobs has been set for the on poverty as a large number of poor programme under the Tenth Five Year people live in villages and are dependent plan. Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar on agriculture. Yojana (SGSY) was launched in 1999. The In these circumstances, there is a programme aims at bringing the assisted clear need for targeted anti-poverty poor families above the poverty line by programmes. Although there are so many organising them into self help groups schemes which are formulated to affect through a mix of bank credit and poverty directly or indirectly, some of government subsidy. Under the Pradhan them are worth mentioning. Mahatma Mantri Gramodaya Yozana (PMGY) Gandhi National Rural Employment launched in 2000, additional central Guarantee Act, 2005 aims to provide 100 assistance is given to states for basic days of wage employment to every services such as primary health, primary household to ensure livelihood security education, rural shelter, rural drinking in rural areas. It also aimed at sustainable water and rural electrification. A nother development to address the cause of important scheme is Antyodaya Anna draught, deforestration and soil erosion. Yozana (A AY) about which you will be One-third of the proposed jobs have been reading more in the next chapter. reserved for women. The scheme provided The results of these programmes have employment to 220 crores person days of been mixed. One of the major reasons employment to 4.78 crore households. for less effectiveness is the lack of proper The share of SC, ST, Women person days implementation and right targeting. in the scheme are 23 per cent, 17 per Moreover, there has be en a lot of cent and 53 per cent respectively. The overlapping of schemes. Despite good average wage has increased from 65 in intentions, the benefits of these schemes 2006–07 to 132 in 2013–14. Recently, in are not fully reached to the deserving March 2018, the wage rate for unskilled poor. Therefore, the major emphasis in manual workers has been revised, state recent years is on proper monitoring of wise, the range of wage rate for different all the poverty alleviation programmes. states and union territories lies in between ` 281 per day (for the workers in The Challenges Ahead Haryana) to ` 168 per day (for the workers Poverty has certainly declined in India. of Bihar and Jharkhand). But despite the progress, poverty Prime Minister Rozgar Yozana (PMRY) reduction remains I ndia’s most is another scheme which was started in compelling challenge. Wide disparities in 1993. The aim of the programme is to poverty are visible between rural and create self-employment opportunities urban areas and among different states. Poverty as a challenge 39 Rationalised 2023-24 Certain social and economic groups are do they have education? Or shelter? Or more vulnerable to poverty. Poverty health care? Or job security? Or self- reduction is expected to make better confidence? Are they free from caste and progress in the next ten to fifteen years. gender discrimination? Is the practice of This would be possible mainly due to child labour still common? Worldwide higher economic growth, increasing stress experience shows that with development, on universal free elementary education, the definition of what constitutes poverty declining population growth, increasing also changes. Eradication of poverty is empowerment of the women and the always a moving target. Hopefully we will economically weaker sections of society. be able to provide the minimum The of ficial definition of poverty, “necessary” in terms of only income to however, captures only a limited part of all people by the end of the next decade. what poverty really means to people. It is But the target will move on for many of about a “minimum” subsistence level of the bigger challenges that still remain: living rather than a “reasonable” level of living. Many scholars advocate that we providing health care, education and job must broaden the concept into human security for all, and achieving gender poverty. A large number of people may equality and dignity for the poor. These have been able to feed themselves. But will be even bigger tasks. Summary You have seen in this chapter that poverty has many dimensions. Normally, this is measured through the concept of “poverty line”. Through this concept we analysed main global and national trends in poverty. But in recent years, analysis of poverty is becoming rich through a variety of new concepts like social exclusion. Similarly, the challenge is becoming bigger as scholars are broadening the concept into human poverty. Exercises 1. Describe how the poverty line is estimated in India? 2. Do you think that present methodology of poverty estimation is appropriate? 3. Describe poverty trends in India since 1973? 4. Discuss the major reasons for poverty in India? 5. Identify the social and economic groups which are most vulnerable to poverty in India. 6. Give an account of interstate disparities of poverty in India. 7. Describe global poverty trends. 8. Describe current government strategy of poverty alleviation? 9. Answer the following questions briefly (i) What do you understand by human poverty? (ii) Who are the poorest of the poor? (iii) What are the main features of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005? 40 Economics Rationalised 2023-24  References DEATON, ANGUS AND VALERIE KOZEL (Eds.) 2005. The Great Indian Poverty Debate. MacMillan India Limited, New Delhi. Economic Survey 2015–2016. Ministry of Finance, Government of India, New Delhi. (Chapter on social sectors, [Online web] URL: http://indiabudget.nic.in/ es_2004–05/social.htm) Mid-Term Appraisal of the Tenth Five Year Plan 2002–2007. Planning Commission, New Delhi. Part II, Chapter 7: Poverty Elimination and Rural Employment, [Online web] URL: http://www.planningcommission.nic.in/midterm/english- pdf/chapter-07.pdf National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005. [Online web] URL: http://rural.nic.in/ rajaswa.pdf PANAGRIYA ARVIND AND VISHAL MORE ‘Poverty by social, religious and economic groups in India and its largest state’, working paper no. 2013-14, Programme on Indian economic policies, Columbia University. Tenth Five Year Plan 2002–2007. Planning Commission, New Delhi. (Chapter 3.2, Poverty Alleviation in Rural India: Strategy and Programmes, [Online web] URL: http://www.planningcommission.nic.in/plans/planrel/fiveyr/10th/volume2/ v2_ch3_2.pdf World Development Indicators 2016. Featuring the Suistainable Development Goals, The World Bank. Poverty as a Challenge 41 Rationalised 2023-24  Chapter V Pastoralists in the Modern World World in the Modern World Fig.1 – Sheep grazing on the Bugyals of eastern Garhwal. Bugyals are vast natural pastures on the high mountains, above 12,000 feet. They are under snow in the winter and come to life after April. At this time the entire mountainside is covered with a variety of grasses, roots and herbs. By monsoon, these pastures are thick with vegetation and carpeted with wild flowers. In this chapter you will read about nomadic pastoralists. Nomads are people who do not live in one place but move from one area to another to earn their living. In many parts of India we can see nomadic pastoralists on the move with their herds of goats and sheep, or camels and cattle. Have you ever wondered where they are coming from and where they are headed? Do you know how they live and earn? What their past has been? Pastoralists in the Modern World Pastoralists rarely enter the pages of history textbooks. When you read about the economy – whether in your classes of history or Pastoralists economics – you learn about agriculture and industry. Sometimes you read about artisans; but rarely about pastoralists. As if their lives do not matter. As if they are figures from the past who have no place in modern society. In this chapter you will see how pastoralism has been important in societies like India and Africa. You will read about the way colonialism impacted their lives, and how they have coped with the pressures of modern society. The chapter will first focus on India and then Africa. 97 Rationalised 2023-24  1 PPastoral astoral Nomads and their Movements 1.1 In the Mountains Source A Even today the Gujjar Bakarwals of Jammu and Kashmir are great Writing in the 1850s, G.C. Barnes gave herders of goat and sheep. Many of them migrated to this region in the following description of the Gujjars the nineteenth century in search of pastures for their animals. of Kangra: Gradually, over the decades, they established themselves in the area, ‘In the hills the Gujjars are exclusively a pastoral tribe – they cultivate scarcely and moved annually between their summer and winter grazing at all. The Gaddis keep flocks of sheep grounds. In winter, when the high mountains were covered with and goats and the Gujjars, wealth snow, they lived with their herds in the low hills of the Siwalik consists of buffaloes. These people live in the skirts of the forests, and maintain range. The dry scrub forests here provided pasture for their herds. their existence exclusively by the sale By the end of April they began their northern march for their summer of the milk, ghee, and other produce grazing grounds. Several households came together for this journey, of their herds. The men graze the forming what is known as a kafila. They crossed the Pir Panjal passes cattle, and frequently lie out for weeks in the woods tending their herds. The and entered the valley of Kashmir. With the onset of summer, the women repair to the markets every snow melted and the mountainsides were lush green. The variety of morning with baskets on their heads, grasses that sprouted provided rich nutritious forage for the animal with little earthen pots filled with milk, butter-milk and ghee, each of these herds. By end September the Bakarwals were on the move again, this pots containing the proportion required time on their downward journey, back to their winter base. When for a day’s meal. During the hot the high mountains were covered with snow, the herds were grazed weather the Gujjars usually drive their herds to the upper range, where the in the low hills. buffaloes rejoice in the rich grass which In a different area of the mountains, the Gaddi shepherds of the rains bring forth and at the same time attain condition from the Himachal Pradesh had a similar cycle of seasonal movement. They temperate climate and the immunity too spent their winter in the low hills of Siwalik range, grazing their from venomous flies that torment their flocks in scrub forests. By April they moved north and spent the existence in the plains.’ summer in Lahul and Spiti. When the snow melted and the high From: G.C. Barnes, Settlement Report of Kangra, 1850-55. passes were clear, many of them moved on to higher mountain India and the Contemporary World Fig.2 – A Gujjar Mandap on the high mountains in central Garhwal. The Gujjar cattle herders live in these mandaps made of ringal – a hill bamboo – and grass from the Bugyal. A mandap was also a work place. Here the Gujjar used to make ghee which they took down for sale. In recent years they have begun to transport the milk directly in buses and trucks. These mandaps are at about 10,000 to 11,000 feet. Buffaloes cannot climb any higher. 98 Rationalised 2023-24  Fig.3 – Gaddis waiting for shearing to begin. Uhl valley near Palampur in Himachal Pradesh. meadows. By September they began their return movement. On the way they stopped once again in the villages of Lahul and Spiti, reaping New words their summer harvest and sowing their winter crop. Then they descended with their flock to their winter grazing ground on the Siwalik hills. Bhabar – A dry forested area below the Next April, once again, they began their march with their goats and foothills of Garhwal and Kumaun sheep, to the summer meadows. Bugyal – Vast meadows in the high mountains Further to the east, in Garhwal and Kumaon, the Gujjar cattle herders came down to the dry forests of the bhabar in the winter, and went up to the high meadows – the bugyals – in summer. Many of them were originally from Jammu and came to the UP hills in the nineteenth century in search of good pastures. Pastoralists in the Modern World This pattern of cyclical movement between summer and winter pastures was typical of many pastoral communities of the Himalayas, including the Bhotiyas, Sherpas and Kinnauris. All of them had to adjust to seasonal changes and make effective use of available pastures in different places. When the pasture was exhausted or unusable in one place they Fig.4 – Gaddi sheep being sheared. moved their herds and flock to new areas. This By September the Gaddi shepherds come down from the high continuous movement also allowed the pastures to meadows (Dhars). On the way down they halt for a while to have their sheep sheared. The sheep are bathed and cleaned before the recover; it prevented their overuse. wool is cut. 99 Rationalised 2023-24  1.2 On the Plateaus, Plains and Deserts Not all pastoralists operated in the mountains. They were also to be found in the plateaus, plains and deserts of India. Dhangars were an important pastoral community of Maharashtra. In the early twentieth century their population in this region was estimated to be 467,000. Most of them were shepherds, some were blanket weavers, and still others were buffalo herders. The Dhangar shepherds stayed in the central plateau of Maharashtra during the monsoon. This was a semi-arid region with low rainfall and poor soil. It was covered with thorny scrub. Nothing but dry crops like bajra could be sown here. In the monsoon this tract became a vast grazing ground for the Dhangar flocks. By October the Dhangars harvested their bajra and started on their move west. After a march of about a month they reached the Konkan. This was a flourishing agricultural tract with high rainfall and rich soil. Here the shepherds Fig.5 – Raika camels grazing on the Thar desert in western Rajasthan. Only camels can survive on the India and the Contemporary World dry and thorny bushes that can be found here; but to get enough feed they have to graze over a very extensive area. were welcomed by Konkani peasants. After the kharif harvest was New words cut at this time, the fields had to be fertilised and made ready for the rabi harvest. Dhangar flocks manured the fields and fed on the Kharif – The autumn crop, usually harvested stubble. The Konkani peasants also gave supplies of rice which the between September and October shepherds took back to the plateau where grain was scarce. With the Rabi – The spring crop, usually harvested onset of the monsoon the Dhangars left the Konkan and the coastal after March areas with their flocks and returned to their settlements on the dry Stubble – Lower ends of grain stalks left in plateau. The sheep could not tolerate the wet monsoon conditions. the ground after harvesting 100 Rationalised 2023-24 In Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, again, the dry central plateau was covered with stone and grass, inhabited by cattle, goat and sheep herders. The Gollas herded cattle. The Kurumas and Kurubas reared sheep and goats and sold woven blankets. They lived near the woods, cultivated small patches of land, engaged in a variety of petty trades and took care of their herds. Unlike the mountain pastoralists, it was not the cold and the snow that defined the seasonal rhythms of their movement: rather it was the alternation of the monsoon and dry season. In the dry season they moved to the coastal tracts, and left when the rains came. Only buffaloes liked the swampy, wet conditions of the coastal areas during the monsoon months. Other herds had to be shifted to the dry plateau at this time. Banjaras were yet another well-known group of graziers. They were to be found in the villages of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. In search of good pastureland for their cattle, they moved over long distances, selling plough cattle and other goods to villagers in exchange for grain and fodder. Source B The accounts of many travellers tell us about the life of pastoral groups. In the early nineteenth century, Buchanan visited the Gollas during his travel through Mysore. He wrote: ‘Their families live in small villages near the skirt of the woods, where they cultivate a little ground, and keep some of their Activity cattle, selling in the towns the produce of the dairy. Read Sources A and B. Their families are very numerous, seven to eight young men in each being common. Two or three of these attend the flocks in Ø Write briefly about what they tell you about the woods, while the remainder cultivate their fields, and supply the nature of the work undertaken by men the towns with firewood, and with straw for thatch.’ and women in pastoral households. From: Francis Hamilton Buchanan, A Journey from Madras through Ø Why do you think pastoral groups often the Countries of Mysore, Canara and Malabar (London, 1807). live on the edges of forests? Pastoralists in the Modern World In the deserts of Rajasthan lived the Raikas. The rainfall in the region was meagre and uncertain. On cultivated land, harvests fluctuated every year. Over vast stretches no crop could be grown. So the Raikas combined cultivation with pastoralism. During the monsoons, the Raikas of Barmer, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur and Bikaner stayed in their home villages, where pasture was available. By October, when these grazing grounds were dry and exhausted, they moved out in search of other pasture and water, and returned again during the next monsoon. One group of Raikas – known as the Maru Fig.6 – A camel herder in his settlement. This is on the Thar desert near Jaisalmer in Rajasthan. (desert) Raikas – herded camels and another group reared The camel herders of the region are Maru (desert) sheep and goat. Raikas, and their settlement is called a dhandi. 101 Rationalised 2023-24  Fig.7 – A camel fair at Balotra in western Rajasthan. Camel herders come to the fair to sell and buy camels. The Maru Raikas also display their expertise in training their camels. Horses from Gujarat are also brought for sale at this fair. So we see that the life of these pastoral groups was sustained by a careful consideration of a host of factors. They had to judge how long the herds could stay in one area, and know where they could find water and pasture. They needed to calculate the timing of their movements, and ensure that they could move through different territories. They had to set up a relationship with farmers on the way, so that the herds could graze in harvested fields and manure the soil. They combined a range of different activities – cultivation, trade, and herding – to make their living. How did the life of pastoralists change under colonial rule? India and the Contemporary World Fig.8 – A camel fair at Pushkar. 102 Rationalised 2023-24 Fig.9 – A Maru Raika genealogist with a group o