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PDF
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Type:
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Conference Paper |
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Author:
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Sivaramakrishnan, A.; John, J. |
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Conference:
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Governing Shared Resources: Connecting Local Experience to Global Challenges, the Twelfth Biennial Conference of the International Association for the Study of Commons |
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Location:
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Cheltenham, England |
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Conf. Date:
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July 14-18, 2008 |
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Date:
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2008 |
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URI:
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https://hdl.handle.net/10535/1804
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Sector:
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Social Organization
General & Multiple Resources |
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Region:
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Subject(s):
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panchayats
institutions
natural resources
resource management
commons
IASC
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Abstract:
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"A concerted effort to mainstream natural resource management into local governance is gaining momentum through State-led devolution of powers to the Panchayati Ra Institutions (PRIs) that represent the primary rungs of democratic governance in India. The strengthening of these institutions at the village level to enable them to function as local self-governing bodies has lent an impetus to participatory democracy in general and to decentralized governance of natural resources in particular. The chief external challenges to these institutions include reluctance to completely devolve powers to these institutions, callous bypassing of PRIs by project implementing agencies of government and civil society alike and inadequate capacity building support on good governance skills. These have in part been fed by the internal issues of corruption, continued proxy legacies of feudal structures and subservience to higher rungs of government and a traditionally strong bureaucracy.
"This paper draws on the experiences of an ongoing project of management of common pastures by village level Panchayats. The attempt has been to help village Panchayats situate NRM within the ambit of local governance. The project shows how collective action for commons management can pave the way for better governance and therein facilitate an integrated perspective of natural resource governance at the level of local governments. The paper seeks to discuss the opportunities created for decentralization of natural resources by democratic devolution while identifying the issues that need to be addressed."
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