Master thesis

Is Community Governance Working?

Local Governance of Common Property Resources in Three Agro-climatic Regions in Rajasthan, India

A case study of community management in the Arid, Semi-Arid and dry Semi-arid regions of Rajasthan.

By: Henrik Daniel Rasmussen

Supervisor: Mammo Muchie

Aalborg

June 29^th 2012

Master Thesis

Table of Contents

Is Community Governance Working? 1

1.0Synopsis 3

2.0Introduction: 4

2.1Problem Formulation 7

2.1.1Description of Problem formulation 7

3.0Operationalization 8

3.1Design 8

3.2Use of theory 9

3.3Method 10

4.0Theory 15

4.1Garrett Hardin - Tragedy of the Commons: 16

4.2Elinor Ostrom - Governing the Commons: 23

5.0Introduction of Cases 28

5.1Case Descriptions 32

5.1.1Case I: Udaipur District 32

1.1.1.1Ramaj 34

1.1.1.2Ramaj Conclusion: 42

1.1.1.3Dodawali 45

1.1.1.4Dodawali conclusion: 51

5.1.2Udaipur District Conclusion 53

5.1.3Case II - Jaisalmer District 54

1.1.1.5Bhopa 55

1.1.1.6Bhopa Conclusion 64

1.1.1.7Rasla 65

1.1.1.8Rasla Conclusion 71

5.1.4Jaisalmer District Conclusion 72

5.1.5Case III - Alwar District 73

1.1.1.9Bakhtpura (periphery of Sariska Tiger Reserve): 77

1.1.1.10Bakhtpura Conclusion 82

1.1.1.11Kalikhol (Buffer-zone of Sariska Tiger Reserve): 83

1.1.1.12Kalikhol conclusion 86

1.1.1.13Kairwari (outside Sariska Tiger Reserve): 88

1.1.1.14Kairwari Conclusion 90

5.1.6Alwar District Conclusion 91

6.0Conclusion 92

7.0References 95

8.0Appendix 99

8.1Appendix I: Description of Terms 99

8.2Appendix II: Ramaj Details 102

8.3Appendix III: Dodawali Details 103

8.4Appendix IV: Alwar Village Details 104

1.0Synopsis

This thesis investigates community management of Common Property Resources in three Agro-climatic regions in Rajasthan. The focus of the thesis is to investigate the local management practises in relation to Garrett Hardin’s Tragedy of the Commons and Elinor Ostrom’s Governing the Commons. The data has been collected through five months of field work in Rajasthan and in cooperation with an Indian, Rajasthan based NGO.

The data and the following analysis are based on a questionnaire conducted in seven different villages as well as walks in the land areas to estimate the status of encroachment and vegetation. This has been done within three different agro-climatic regions in order to obtain information on management practises under different conditions such as cultural, climatic, social-economic and environmental issues.

“What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow

Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man,

You cannot say, or guess, for you know only

A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,

And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,

And the dry stone no sound of water. Only

There is shadow under the red rock,

(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),

And I will show you something different from either

Your shadow at morning striding behind you

Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;

I will show you fear in a handful of dust”.

“The Waste Land”

T.S. Eliot

2.0Introduction:

The Indian economy has since the mid 90´s been through a rapid growth. In 1994-1995 the GDP was 7.5%, and since early 2000 the economy has been growing with around 9% annually¹. The Indian economy is therefore one of the leading economies of the BRICS² countries, being the fastest growing and the largest emerging market economy.

It is ,however, not everyone in India who has benefited from the economic boom. Overall, the economic growth has been localized to the major cities³. This uneven development is further enhanced by the fact that there is a rural population of 742.490.639 and an urban population of 286.119.689 in India⁴. Arid regions, tribal areas and the inaccessible hill/mountain regions have largely remained outside the growth paradigm⁵. The crisis in these regions has been apparent in terms of reduced land and livestock holdings, a breakdown in agro-pastoral production systems, changes in cropping patterns and depleting groundwater tables⁶.

The agrarian development, based on resource intensification and capital investment for increased production, also known as the green revolution, has spiked and levelled in many parts of rural India⁷. The passing of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, The Forest Right Act and the National Food Security Act are some indicators of this crisis in rural employment and sustainability⁸. India has the largest number of poor in the world; many of them depend directly or indirectly on natural resources for their livelihoods. Poverty, as well as large and expanding human and livestock populations, puts unrelenting pressure on these resources⁹.

The close connection of the rural poor to the natural resources and the traditional user rights, of community forest, -Pasture lands and Revenue Wasteland, the resources are viewed as Common Property Resources or Common Pool Resources¹⁰ (CPR). In Rajasthan there is a significant issue with encroachments on the communities CPRs, this is partly due to the population pressure and the increased resource demand but also the Government policy of regularization of the encroached lands. There is, so to speak, an integrated benefit on trespassing on community lands. The irony is that while trespassers are rewarded through regularization; law-abiding people are deprived through loss of access to the commons¹¹.

Today, approximately 22% of India´s land area is under forest, with around 275 million rural poor depending on it for their livelihood¹². Half of India´s 89 million tribal people, one of the most disadvantage social groups in India, live in the periphery of the forest areas and have a close cultural and economic link to the forest¹³. However, the quality of these forests has been significantly reduced since Independence in 1947. Although, there has been a large increase in the forest land under control by the Forest Department (a 50% increase from 1960 to 1980), there has been a steady degeneration of these government managed forests¹⁴. An estimate by the World Bank states that 41% of the forest lands have been degraded over the last several decades¹⁵.


India´s forest are ecological unstable and unhealthy. The process of conversion largely through clear cutting has destroyed the primary structure of most of the forests. Repeated fires and overgrazing have altered the ground and soil structure substantially. Status of Indian Forestry, S.A. Shah, 1995.

One of the reasons for this decay of Natural Resources in India after 1947 is that large parts of the Jungle were turned into state forest or revenue forest, mainly for commercial timber production, with little regard for the development of the forest communities¹⁶. In this process, rural people and tribes, who had lived and used the forest as a significant part of their livelihood, were denied user rights to the land through changing laws and Acts^17,18. In the early 1980´s there was a shift towards forest conservation, with the passing of the Forest Conservation Act¹⁹. During the late 80´s West Bengal and other progressive states, experimented with allocating a specific area of forest along with limited management responsibilities to communities in return for a share of forest revenues from timber and better access to non-timber forest products²⁰. In 1990 a policy circular formally adopted this model as Joint Forest Management (JFM).

After independence, on one hand, access of communities to common lands was legally denied by the state, on the other hand the derelict state functionaries continued illegally to provide access to its individuals. This has led to widespread, illegal privatization of most of the common land in the villages²¹. The people have been compelled to opt for vertical ties with their patrons at the cost of community solidarity and social cohesion. It became nearly impossible to put in place the institutional mechanisms for sustainable land use leading to large-scale deprivation and land degradation leading to economic, social and political disempowerment of the rural poor dependent on the commons^22,23,24.

Through my nine months with Seva Mandir, an Indian, Rajasthan based NGO, I have worked exclusively with JFM for four months (Sept.-Dec. 2010) and the general status of CPRs in Rajasthan for five months (Sept.-Feb 2011-12). During this time I have estimated the status of 28 JFM sites in Udaipur district alone and conducted field trips all over Rajasthan to evaluate the status of village CPRs. Through this work I have seen both success and failures in the management of the CPRs. I have seen completely ruined land areas without a single tree left due to overexploitation, I have spoken to villagers who are conducting minor wars with neighbouring villages over the access to the natural resources; often with lethal consequences on both sides, as well as villages who are in open conflict with the Forest Department, due to denied access to the local forest. But I have also seen successful management of the natural resources by the communities and well functioning local institutions that are able to resolve, often long-term and violent conflicts through community based organizations and conduct successful development work on their local CPRs, both in terms of restoring the vegetation and strengthening the local institutions. This has led me to the question of this thesis: