Common Pool Resources in India: New Evidence on the PPR-CPR Hypothesis

Abstract

"The importance of common pool resources (CPRs), particularly to the poor, in the semi-arid zone of India has been well documented. However, these studies have largely been in the nature of case studies - the exception being Jodha's comprehensive attempt in the 1980s to cover a large representative sample. The availability of the household data from the 54th round of the National Sample Survey (NSS) for 78,990 households across various zones provides us an opportunity to revisit the private property resources (PPR)- common pool resources (CPR) hypothesis by using a larger sample across the various states (districts which compromise the semi-arid zone). In fact, there are two hypotheses: (1) there is a strong relationship between PPR ownership and extraction of resources from CPRs due to their complementarity in terms of the inputs from CPR products that feed into PPR production activities, (2) the linkage between the poor especially the landless and the small and marginal farmers is stronger as subsistence needs are met from the CPRs.

"The paper would examine this competing hypotheses by analyzing the differential dependence on CPRs (use and collection of fodder, fuelwood, non timber forest produce (NTFP), common water resources) by using the household data from the following categories of households- landless, landed poor and others from the semi-arid zone. Appropriate econometric techniques would be used to analyse the household data. The case study literature particularly in the semi-arid context would be used to infer whether the findings at the macro level are in concurrence with the micro level findings and areas for further micro enquiry will be identified. The methodological limitations of the NSS survey would be pointed out and suggestions would be put forth to overcome them to enable a more nuanced understanding of the commons."