Common Property Resources and Rural Poor in Dry Regions of India

Common property resources (CPRs), though neglected by policy makers and planners, play a significant role in the life of the rural poor. This paper, part of a larger study on the role of CPRs in farming systems of dry areas of India, attempts to quantify the extent to which the rural poor benefit from CPRs. Based on data from over 80 villages in 21 districts in dry regions of seven states, the study reveals significant contribution of CPRs towards the employment and income generation for the rural poor, i e, labour and small farm households. The per household per year income derived from CPRs ranged between Rs 530 and Rs 830 in different areas. This is higher than the income generated by a number of anti-poverty programmes in some areas. The dependence of richer households on CPRs is much less. Despite such contributions of CPRs, their area and productivity are declining in all the regions. The area of CPRs has declined by 26 to 63 per cent during last three decades. Large-scale privatisation of CPR has taken place mainly during the last three decades. The privatisation of CPRs was done largely to help the poor. However, 49-86 per cent of the privatised CPR ended up in the hands of the non-poor in different areas. Furthermore, most of the land received by the poor households was also given up by them as they did not have complementary resources to develop and use the newly received lands. Thus, the rural poor collectively lost a significant part of the source of their sustenance through the decline of CPRs. This loss does not seem to be compensated by privatised CPR lands given to (or retained by) them. The situation calls for greater attention to CPRs as a part of the anti-poverty strategy.