5(a) Adaptive primate radiation
10 Marks150 words
Syllabus: Paper I > 1.5 Characteristics of Primates > Evolutionary trend and primate taxonomy
Pastoralism in India — 2019 Paper I
Question · 2019 · Paper I · 10 Marks
Pastoralism in India
Model Answer
VAID ICSApproach
- Demand of Question: Describe pastoralism in India as an ecological and livelihood adaptation with suitable examples.
- Structuring the Response: Explain its major forms, representative communities, ecological basis and contemporary challenges.
- Key Dimensions to Cover: Nomadism, transhumance, agro-pastoralism, Raika/Rebari, Gaddi, Bakarwal, mobility and grazing commons.
Model Answer
Introduction: Pastoralism is a subsistence and livelihood system in which livestock herding forms a major economic activity. In India, it is particularly adapted to arid, semi-arid, mountainous and seasonally variable environments.
Major forms:
- Nomadic pastoralism: Households move with herds in search of pasture and water. Sections of the Raika/Rebari of Rajasthan illustrate this pattern.
- Transhumance: Seasonal movement occurs between relatively fixed ecological zones.
- Gaddis of Himachal Pradesh
- Bakarwals of Jammu and Kashmir
- Agro-pastoralism: Herding is combined with cultivation, creating complementary dependence between livestock and agriculture.
Ecological adaptation:
Seasonal pasture variation → Herd mobility → Efficient resource use
Livestock transform vegetation into:
- milk;
- wool;
- meat;
- manure;
- transport.
Social organization: Pastoral mobility encourages kin-based cooperation, exchange with cultivators and flexible use of territory.
Contemporary challenges: Shrinking grazing commons, forest restrictions, infrastructure projects, sedentarization and disruption of migration routes increasingly threaten pastoral livelihoods.
Conclusion: Pastoralism in India is a specialized biocultural and ecological adaptation, whose survival depends upon access to commons, mobility corridors and customary grazing rights.
Want feedback on your answer?
Join the Anthropology workshop or get structured answer-writing guidance from VAID ICS.
UPSC Anthropology Optional 2019 — Paper I
28 questionsSyllabus: Paper I > 5. Religion > Anthropological approaches to the study of religion
5(d) Anthropological inputs in facial reconstruction
10 Marks150 words
Syllabus: Paper I > 12. Applications of Anthropology > Forensic Anthropology > Reconstruction
Syllabus: Paper I > 12. Applications of Anthropology > Applied human genetics
Syllabus: Paper I > 2.2 The Nature of Society > Social stratification
Syllabus: Paper I > 11.3 Biological and socio-ecological factors influencing fecundity and fertility
Syllabus: Paper I > 9.7 Concepts and methods of Ecological Anthropology > High altitude adaptation
1(d) Cultural Materialism
10 Marks150 words
Syllabus: Paper I > 6. Anthropological Theories > Cultural Materialism
1(b) Cultural Relativism
10 Marks150 words
Syllabus: Paper I > 2.1 The Nature of Culture > Ethnocentrism vis-a-vis Cultural Relativism
Syllabus: Paper I > 1.5 Characteristics of Primates > Skeletal changes due to erect posture
5(e) Genetico-environmental factors affecting human growth
10 Marks150 words
Syllabus: Paper I > 10. Human growth and development > Factors affecting growth and development
5(b) Implications of mutation in evolution
10 Marks150 words
Syllabus: Paper I > 1.7 The biological basis of life > Mutation
Syllabus: Paper I > 3. Economic Organization > Impact of globalization on indigenous economies
Syllabus: Paper I > 9.5 Race and racism > Racial criteria and biological basis of racial classification
Syllabus: Paper I > 7. Culture, language and communication > Language and culture
Syllabus: Paper I > 1.8(b) Cultural Evolution: broad outlines of prehistoric cultures > Megalithic
Syllabus: Paper I > 1.8(b) Cultural Evolution: broad outlines of prehistoric cultures > Mesolithic
Syllabus: Paper I > 10. Human growth and development > Methodologies for growth studies
Syllabus: Paper I > 1.6 Phylogenetic status, characteristics and distribution > Neanderthal Man
5(c) Olduvai Gorge
10 Marks150 words
Syllabus: Paper I > 1.6 Phylogenetic status, characteristics and distribution > East African hominid sites
Syllabus: Paper I > 8.3 Research Methods: Tools of data collection > Observation
1(c) Pastoralism in India
10 Marks150 words
Syllabus: Paper I > 3. Economic Organization > Modes of subsistence > Pastoralism
Syllabus: Paper I > 8.2 Research Methods > Distinction between technique, method and methodology
Syllabus: Paper I > 2.5 Kinship > Descent theory and alliance theory
1(e) Relative Dating Methods
10 Marks150 words
Syllabus: Paper I > 1.8(a) Chronology: relative and absolute dating methods
Syllabus: Paper I > 9.3 Concept of genetic polymorphism and selection
Syllabus: Paper I > 1.8(b) Cultural Evolution: broad outlines of prehistoric cultures > Upper Palaeolithic
6(a) Examine critically the contributions of Victor Turner and Clifford Geertz in anthropology.
20 Marks
Syllabus: Paper I > 6. Anthropological Theories > Symbolic and Interpretive Anthropology