Her Work and its Contribution to tHe tHeory and PraCtiCe of Conservation and sustainable natural resourCe ManageMent Policy Matters iuCn CoMMission on environMental, eConoMiC and soCial PoliCy issue 19 aPril 2014

POLICY MATTERS 2014: REMEMBERING ELINOR OSTROM

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Management and Rainfed Farming’ and sub 

group on ‘Institutions and Commons’ for the 

12th Plan preparation, in which the need 

for favourable land tenure arrangements, 

institutional design and programme 

architecture was highlighted for effective 

governance and management of commons. 

Following direction from the Lok Adalat 

(people’s court) of Karnataka, two districts 

in Karnataka have also embarked on a 

programme to improve their commons 

management.

These new directions for commons regimes, 

while focusing to date on land, hold promise 

for other commons of importance to India 

such as fisheries, water (and ground water in 

particular), genetic sources such as agricultural 

seeds, and patenting of traditional knowledge 

systems, traditional health practices and 

medicines. However, while the direction taken 

by the Indian Supreme Court, the policy and 

programmatic level decisions of the Central 

Government, many State Governments, and the 

Planning Commission all provide ways forward, 

there remains a lack of integration in efforts to 

address the issue of commons governance at a 

national level. In this context, a Model Common 

Lands Bill or such like could provide important 

direction for State Governments. One approach 

could include tethering the MGNREGA with a 

‘commons regime’, such that the institutional 

dimensions currently found wanting would be 

filled. The right to employment and the right 

over resources combined together can have 

a significant impact in protecting ecological 

resources and creating robust institutional 

regimes. 

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

In conclusion, the ethics and value systems 

espoused by Elinor Ostrom, and her 

pathbreaking insights into the commons, 

as well as her research on the principles 

governing their effective, equitable and 

sustainable management, has tremendous 

implications for the governance of shared 

resources in India. India is home to a grand 

diversity of common pool resources ranging 

from forests to grazing lands, from fresh 

water to marine areas, with both rural and 

urban communities exhibiting widespread 

dependence on these resources for meeting 

Plate 3: Elinor Ostrom with the authors of this manuscript (and Harini Nagendra’s daughter) in Bangalore in February 

2012, on the last day of her final visit to India (Photo credit: Venkatachalam Suri). 

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POLICY MATTERS 2014: REMEMBERING ELINOR OSTROM

21

a range of economic, social, cultural and 

spiritual needs. Ostrom’s theoretical and 

empirical observations of the commons 

provide a framework for governance 

that respects diversity and rights to local 

self-governance, while at the same time 

recognizing the need for multi-level 

governance that require governments to fulfil 

their social responsibilities towards equity 

and sustainability. India has a long standing 

diversity of traditional common property 

systems, with new forms of innovative 

commons governance evolving in areas such 

as patent rights, and in urban commons. 

Recent initiatives by the Supreme Court of 

India, coupled with various Indian State 

Government initiatives in some states, and the 

national policy changes brought about by the 

Forest Rights Act, indicate signs of progress 

that are promising. Yet much remains to be 

done. Large scale changes are needed, whilst 

keeping in mind the central pillar of Ostrom’s 

vision — self-governance of the commons at a 

local level that permits flexibility, adaptation 

and innovation, with the ultimate goal of 

ensuring equitable and sustainable access to 

the commons for all citizens.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

HN acknowledges financial support from 

the Department of Science and Technology, 

Government of India through a Ramanujan 

Fellowship. This article draws substantively on 

a previous paper—H. Nagendra, R. Ghate and J. 

Rao (2013). Governing the commons. Seminar 

India 641: 88-93.

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