Prakash Kashwan , a member of "Indian Environment Network" is doing his dissertation directly under Ms. Elinor Ostrom, this year's Nobel Prize winner in Economics. He is working on his Doctoral Program in Public Policy at Indiana University in the Political Science Department. Prakash was also my junior at Indian Institute of Forest Management, a premier institute and Fountainhead of learning for the best talents in the Indian Environment Sector.
I was delighted to interview him and have his first reactions on the significance of Nobel Prize going to Ms. Elinor Ostrom, the GURU of Common Property Resource Management.
I want to share this interview with my members of Indian Environment Network at http://www.paryavaran.com and all those grassroots practitioners who are doing the hard work in the field among communities and forests, making it all possible.
- Chandra Kishore, Founder, Indian Environment Network http://www.paryavaran.com
I am sure you must be feeling so proud about your mentor Elinor Ostrom ( profile) , first woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Economics. We, at Indian Environment Network ( http://www.paryavaran.com ) would love to have your take on this fantastic achievement….
1. What was your first reaction when you heard the news? How is your Alma-Mater celebrating?
It was state of absolute happiness and pride. I had heard that she was in running for last several years but this year I have been conducting my dissertation research in South Gujarat, I had no clue that this was so close. Actually, Prof. Deepak Malghan from the Centre of Public Policy at Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, who I had met earlier this year, broke the news over email to me. Then several friends and colleagues from around the world started posting their congratulatory messages on Facebook. It felt absolutely amazing to be part of such a great global community of scholars and practitioners. I was told that the Workshop in Political Theory & Policy Analysis, an intellectual melting pot co-founded by Elinor (aka Lin) and Vincent Ostrom, was buzzing with enormous activity throughout the day. It is a humble place where a lot of amazing people work together cutting across disciplines and nationalities. I could only imagine the happiness they all experienced following the recognition. I wish I were there but I am excited to be in the middle of my dissertation research, which is my humble attempt at taking forward the work of my mentor.
2. Can you share with us why her work is so important to mankind?
Simply put, as social beings we humans need to work with each other despite barriers of all kinds – nationalities, geography, gender, culture, societies, caste/ethnicity, class, and then not to forget the academic disciplines from where experts seek to define their own worldview given the theories and tools that they are familiar with. Lin has worked assiduously to bridge all kinds of divides and at the same time avoid falling into the trap of catchy metaphors (such as “The Tragedy of Commons”) and magical solutions. Taking forward the fundamental work done by her senior colleague and husband Vincent Ostrom, Lin has worked with colleagues from around the world to explore “how can fallible human beings achieve and sustain self-governing entities and self-governing ways of life?” Isn’t that an amazing quest? Commons happen to be the playground that she has engaged in for a long time to grapple with the puzzles that are absolutely fundamental to the human endeavor.
3. Can you elaborate it in context of Common Property Resource management in India?
A large majority of our people still rely on Common Pool Resources (which may not always be managed under a Common Property Regime) such as water, forests, and grazing land. Add to this the tradition in several parts of our country where even privately owned agriculture fields turn into commons after the harvests. This reliance is not merely of income, as is often argued inadequately. It is essential for the vey survival of sections within rural and tribal communities. Here in the South Gujarat, a see dozens of women ever day who have to bring a head load of fuel wood from the forest to the nearest town to ensure that a meal is served at the end of day. Therefore, for us Indians, it is a question of human development as well as that of environmental conservation. And we have rich intellectual traditions – in philosophical as well as social idioms - that seek to offer the norms and convention that should guide the conduct of our societal affairs.
Unfortunately, members of what is sometimes referred to as the “call-center generation”, which is fast occupying the role of opinion-makers in our society, don’t appreciate these nuances. They fall for simplistic but gratifying quick-fix solutions. Protect all remaining forest at any cost; plant large number of trees every June 5th; deal militarily with the dissent in tribal areas; and so forth. This is precisely where Lin’s work, often summed up as an exercise in evolving a craft of association, may come handy. How do the Delhiites think of their ‘association’ with the tribals in Dediapada? Such reflection is a pre-requisite to dealing with the challenges facing us. The ‘Devil may care’ attitude will hurt us.
Last but not the least, the Commons are not just about local forests and local association, particularly in this era where the whole environmental discourse is defined by climate change and its repercussions. Local lessons and domestic sensitivities will play a vital role defining how we position ourselves at the global negotiating table.
4. What should be the role of Government in Common Pool Resource Management by Communities?
I am glad that you ask this. Lin’s work has sometimes been misinterpreted to romanticize community organization, implying that there is little role for governments and other governance arrangements such as courts and democratic legislating bodies. Even in Southern California, the case that Lin studied for her doctoral research in 1965, local community groups had easy access to and made use of the courts of law to thrash out some of the tricky issues. Several scholars have demonstrated beyond doubt that government agencies and government officials enjoy a great deal of legitimacy even in the most backward corners of the hinterlands of our country. Unfortunately, government officials in most regions don’t appreciate how valuable that legitimacy is. For instance, the officials charged with conservation of common pool resources have failed to facilitate community-based conservation efforts. In fact, they have often erected insurmountable obstacles leading to tragic environmental and governance related consequences. On the other hand, I have met several forest officials who acknowledge privately that they cannot protect forests and biodiversity without the cooperation of local communities. They should now go a step forward and see local communities as real partners rather than looking at them as a pool of cheap labor.
5. Communities and villages are facing fragmentation and losing their soul to migration in search of better pastures. At the same time powerful private vested interests are usurping Common Property Resources. Where do you think will be new balance?
Ha! CK, from your questions it seems as if you have got hold of my dissertation proposal (just kidding!). Indeed, you’re right on. This is probably the most daunting question facing the Commons scholars. The most marginalized among local communities, who have so far been dependent greatly on the commons, are migrating in large numbers (and from what I can tell, it is a combination of push and pull factors). This situation suits those who want to maintain control over the resources without being accountable to ordinary citizens. Unfortunately big bilateral and multi-lateral donors fail to account for these nuances and continue to support the so-called “participatory projects”. In reality, most of this turns into what scholars call “participatory tyrannies”. In one big bilateral project that I have followed closely on ground, this situation is being exploited to perpetrate blatant corruption. Fortunately, common villagers are talking about this and they are beginning to mobilize their ideas on how to counter this. Having said this, there are no easy answers to this puzzle. The political economic circumstances are so daunting that local elites or corporations may find it easy to take control of the resources in the times to come. Only in a handful of places communities are being mobilized in a manner that instills accountability and real participation.
6. Tell me about your own work that you are doing on the subject?
I am afraid I have to give you a long background followed by a quick summary of my research questions. Historically, the process of forest settlements was accomplished inadequately in several parts of India. This meant that the lands where tribal communities had been living for generations were declared as state forests without the due process. In other cases, village commons such as grazing lands, or the village revenue lands kept for future expansion of dwellings, were taken over by the forest department. Finally, the revenue administration that developed in rest of the country since independence has had a very different trajectory in most forested regions inhabited by tribals and other forest dwellers. Development of basic amenities has been neglected and the villages in these regions remain extremely poorly developed even in otherwise developed states such as Gujarat or Maharashtra. With this history of under-development, the forested region went further down the curve after parts of our economy witnessed a noteworthy growth.
In order to address these historic and continuing disparities, India’s parliament promulgated the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006 which aims to correct “historical injustices” by recognizing their individual rights over already cultivated and habited lands within the public forestlands; collective rights over protection and management of forests and forest resources that the communities have traditionally accessed; and a right to get access to basic amenities (schools, hospitals, roads, crematorium etc.) wherever they have not been put in place so far. More importantly, the Gram Sabhas (village assemblies) have been given the authority to deliberate upon and decide on each of these rights.
The act triggered a fierce debate between the pro-act groups who argued that it was absolutely a step in the right direction, and the exclusionary conservationist who argued that this act will destroy whatever remains of our forests. On the other hand, I had visited tens of communities and heard about hundreds of communities all over the country that have managed to protect their forests despite all odds. If communities were so hell bent on cultivating every available piece of forestland, they would not have conserved forests at such a significant scale. Having said this, one has to think about “community-based conservation”, and “community decision making” in the context of fragmentation within the communities that we talked about earlier.
Therefore, the FRA, with all its constituent elements, enables me to explore questions of local resource governance and how local decision-making is either hindered by or facilitated by disparate non-local actors and agencies. Specifically, I am attempting to understand whether, and in what ways, local arrangements aimed at participatory forest conservation make a difference to the implementation of FRA. Two, I am exploring whether political competition in electoral arena makes a difference to the FRA outcomes. Finally, I am trying to understand how the fragmentation within “local communities” affects resource conservation and the decision-making under the Forest Rights Act. To accomplish these research objectives, I combine theoretical tools of institutional analysis with insights from political economy and sociology. On the methods front, I am using a variety of research tools (community level surveys, interviews, ethnographic research, focused group discussions, and a bit of action research) to understand the visible actions and decisions, as well as the subjectivities that inform decisions that various individuals make in trying to influence this process.
It has been an exciting year in the field. I have learned so much and am bubbling with thoughts and insights, but that may be kept for another round of conversation.
7. Thanks Prakash, it’s time to celebrate. Convey our heartfelt thanks to Ms. Ostrom for a path-breaking achievement that can be practically applied to the remotest corner of the world.
It’s been pleasure answering your wonderful questions, and thank you for coordinating this wonderful platform of "Indian Environment Network" on http://www.paryavaran.com .
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Although we are proud of our earlier Indian recipients of Noble Prize in the economic field but once again it is really a matter of pride for each of us that we are having a connection with noble laureate in present scenario of economic crises.
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Satya Prakash Mehra