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| Eco-preneurship for Renewing Commons: The Case of a Missing Tree of Takhua village |
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Reference |
| Participants of Summer School on Management of Common Property Resources, Indian Institute of Management, June 1-10, 1995: " Eco-preneurship for Renewing Commons: The Case of A Missing Tree.", Honey Bee, Vol. 6, no. 3, SRISTI, Ahmedabad, 1995. |
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Introduction to the Institution |
| The village Takhua is located in an arid area. Land under agriculture is limited and getting drinking water is a serious problem. Most villagers make their living from livestock, and in drought years, when there is no grass, only tree looping come to their rescue. Thus, proper management of their common property land is crucial to the villagers. Takhua has more than 200 ha of common pasture land with several seasonal water bodies. |
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Coverage of the Institution |
| Similar institutions are likely to be seen in other villages close to Takhua. Further information is not reported. The institution is concurrent. |
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Rules for Management
of the Institution |
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(a) Boundary Rules |
| SPATIAL BOUNDARIES: 200 ha. of common land belonging to the village.
SOCIAL BOUNDARIES: None reported. |
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(b) Governance
rules |
| The main governance feature is an oath given to a Goddess, in which the villagers promise not to tamper with the common land. At that occasion, the villagers decreed that:
- Any person who cut a tree from the common land would have to feed a fixed amount of grains to birds.
- Anyone who learnt of the offence, and failed to report it to the panchayat (Village Council) would also be punished.
- If the offender do not comply with these sanctions, he will be ostracized from the community. No one will attend functions such as marriages at his house, nor will they invite him to functions in their houses. The same sanctions apply to offenders from other villages in case they break the rules of Takhua.
A vigilance group was formed, which would periodically go around the village and persuade the farmers from adjoining villages to vacate common lands.
Furthermore, the villagers revived the practice of clearing the catchment area of debris or dung to ensure that the water bodies meant for storing drinking water do not get polluted during the rainy season. |
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(c) Resource Allocation |
| Not reported. |
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Conflict Resolution Mechanism |
| A farmer from a neighbouring village had extended his fence to encircle a neem tree (The neem tree is a very valuable tree which can be used for multiple purposes such as medicin, pest control etc.) growing on the common land neighbouring his field. Villagers cut the fence and warned him from attempting such an act again.
At another instance, a tree was cut on the common land. As a villager noticed heavy logs of wood lying in a house in the village, he reported it to the panchayat. An enquiry was held by the panchayat, and both the person who had cut the tree and a person who had seen the cutting take place, were fined 40 kg. of grain which were given to the common grain reserve of the village for feeding birds. |
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Problems Faced by Institution |
| - |
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Changes in the Institution over time |
| Earlier the commons were overexploited by the villagers, and also by farmers from other villages, Trees were cut and cattle was grazed indiscriminately. 10 years ago, a farmer, Balvantsingh, was inspired by a traditional institution in a neighbouring village, Sayana in Rajasthan, in which the respect for a Goddess restrained the villagers from denuding the deity's land. Thereby the village had an excellent common grazing land. Balvantsingh requested farmers to vacate the land, but as nobody listened to him, he declared that he would take over all the remaining common land (How he could do this is not reported). No others animals were allowed to graze or take water from this area. This made the villagers feel the need to evolve norms for proper management of the "Gauchar" - the common land. A meeting was held, at which Balvantsingh took all the farmers to the temple of the village Goddess and exhorted them not to cut the trees from the common land. The villagers took an oath before the godess not to tamper with the common land, and made a number of decrees (see below). |
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Other Features of Institution |
| - |
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Purpose |
| Resource Management of Common Property. |
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Country |
| India |
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Region |
| Banaskhanta, Gujarat. |
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Date Of Publication |
| TroB 300496 |
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