Imagine you are living in the 1890s. You belong to a community of nomadic pastoralists and craftsmen. You learn that the government has declared your community as a Criminal Tribe.
(a) Describe briefly what you would have felt and done.
(b) Write a petition to the local collector explaining why the act is unjust and how it will affect your life.
Imagine you are living in the 1890s. You belong to a community of nomadic pastoralists and craftsmen
(a) I feel that declaring my tribe as criminal just because we move from place to place is totally wrong and unjust. We are not committing any crime by grazing our herds. For our herds to graze, moving from place to place is required when fodder at one place gets finished.
I will write a petition to the District Collector to remove our tribe’s name from the list of Criminal Tribes.
(b) Petition to the Collector
Sir
I request you to remove my tribe’s name from the list of Criminal Tribes, as we are not committing any crime by grazing our herds at different places.
We are not criminals, as we do not commit theft or kill anyone; we are just earning our living by selling the milk and milk products of our animals. So, the act is totally unjust and it should not be enforced.
In fact, I am suffering great hardship, as I am limited to a very small area and when the vegetation there is finished, I have to take a special permission to go elsewhere for my animals to feed.
Also, the policemen harass us for bribes when we go elsewhere, which causes us further hardship. So, you are requested to remove my tribe’s name from the list of Criminal Tribes.
Yours Sincerely
XYZ