The paper reports the main findings of a study, designed to develop a better understanding of institutional variations in working with the demand responsive approach (DRA) in rural water supply in the state of Odisha in India. Data for the paper were collected from twelve village communities, where water is being supplied either through their community based institution or through the local government institution of the Gram Panchayat. The findings suggest that the two types of institutions performed differently in implementing the DRA. It depicted that the DRA under the broader rubric of institutional reforms in the water sector has failed to address the question of social inequality, and rather had reinforced and extended the already existing inequity of Indian society to access to safe and secure drinking water in rural areas. The study highlights that participation, cost recovery, full operation and management transfer may be an efficient proposition, but not sustainable in the long run without proper investment in institution building and support from the state, especially in provisioning of basic services like drinking water to rural poor.
This article attempts to examine the negative impact of climate change on agricultural livelihood and human social life. Natural climatic variations have always been a challenge for human sustenance as they are predicated on a host of factors that include natural, human-made and unbalanced environmental conditions. India too, with its geographic zones such as mountains, small islands, wetlands, coastal areas, deserts, semi-arid lands and plains, is exposed to challenges of climatic change. The impact of climate is particularly severe on the livelihoods of the rural poor. For instance, people living near coastal regions are constantly prone to severe floods. This study specifically focusses on coastal Odisha and the impact of floods which have been triggered by climate change. The study, looking at the effect on crop production and socio-economic conditions, has followed a two-pronged approach, conducting a field survey and collecting data from secondary sources.
The article examines the process of community’s involvement in protection and management of its local forests resources in Thailand. It attempts to examine the role played by the institution in providing a sustainable solution to the problems of deforestation and forest degradation. The article is based upon qualitative data gathered from three cases of community forest management (CFM) from Kanchanaburi, Lampang and Lamphun provinces of Thailand. The analysis is based on Elinor Ostrom’s framework of Institutional Analysis and Development, and empirically examines the rule configurations associated with sustainable governance of local commons resources. The article highlights that along with a robust institutional design at the local level, two other factors such as availability of external assistance and legal backup by the state, create favourable conditions which enhance the institutional performance in commons governance.
The article examines the efforts for collective action of ten village communities in the state of Orissa to manage their local forest resources from an institutional perspective. It explores the differential levels of success in the collective action efforts of these communities, and the role of local level community institution therein, for ensuring sustainable resource use and management. The article concludes that only presence or absence of the institution is not always sufficient for sustainable resource management outcomes, despite being a necessary condition for it. The existing institution must be a robust one with strong rules for resource appropriation and good monitoring system. Institutional arrangements for sustainable resource management at the community level must be understood as a dynamic process, which involve a continuous interaction among the community members and the designed institution. The institution formulates the rules and expects the community members to comply such rules. The rule formation should necessarily be backed by a strong and efficient monitoring system to ensure that rules are complied, and accordingly the institution can accord positive incentive in the form of rewards to those who show conformity to rules and negative incentive through punishment to those who violate them. The institutional arrangements without such a strong monitoring system fail to restrict free-ride and hence, could not establish a well-defined property right regime over the resource, which is very much essential for ensuring successful collective action.
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