Pastoralists Without Pasture: Water Scarcity, Marketisation and Resource Enclosures In Kutch, India

Abstract

Scarcity and uncertainty loom large over the landscape of Kutch, an arid to semi-arid district in western India, where pastoralism has been practised for generations. Despite its clear potential to tackle the dryland dynamics, the tradition of pastoralism in Kutch has been systematically denigrated and marginalised in the district over the years. Drawing on research conducted in eastern Kutch, and along the coast, this article shows how pastoralist communities have been displaced from a range of vital hydric resources – such as mangroves and water sources – in the name of development and conservation. Together, these have accelerated processes of dispossession and exacerbated both 'old' and 'new' resource scarcities.