The decline of common property resources in Rajasthan, India

This paper examines the decline of common property resources in the arid zone of Rajasthan in India and the factors underlying the decline.The article concludes that:well-intentioned public programmes like land reformcan deprive a region of its comparative advantage in a key economic activity (in this case livestock farming)privatisation raises the cost of livestock raising and, hence, erodes the the region's comparative advantagethe continuing shrinkage and degradation of common property resources is likely to force further reduction in the size of livestock holdings and changes in their compositionanother likely consequence is increased dependence on stall-feeding of cattle and a greater incidence of seasonal outmigration of sheepthere is a strong case to be made for protecting and developing common property resourcesThe article recommends that:the government enforces a strict ban on further privatisation of common property resourcesregulated use of common property resources by introducing some element of private cost for the usersdesignation of common property resources as a source of revenue for the Panchayats, to induce them to conserve and systematically manage them as productive resources