Rural Commons Livelihood and Sustainability
(from Vocabulary of Commons, article 24)
by Prafulla Samantara
Rural Commons: A Source of Livelihood and Sustainability
You, ministers, collector and babus, did not create these mountains, water flowing in the streams or the cultivated lands which have been giving us life and livelihood from generation to generation... and it will also nurture our future generations. These are given to us by the god of nature. Who are you to snatch away the gifts of nature from us? Can you answer? You have killed three of my sons. We shall not allow you to destroy our resources. Many more of us are prepared to die.
These words of Mukta Jhodia, an old tribal woman, were spoken on 30 January 2001 at Kashipur, Rayagada district, Odisha. It was in her very brief maiden public speech in a rally of tribals and was addressed to the government, the policy makers the intellectuals. The tribals were protesting against the police firing which killed three tribals on 16 December 2000 at Maikanch. They had been struggling to protect their land, water and mountain from the onslaught of an alumina project and mining of bauxite by Utkal Alumina Ltd. a joint venture of Hydro of Norway, Alcan of Canada and Hindalco of India.
This question has its eternal answer within it—that the tribals have faith in natural resources as their saviours and it is the source of human existence. Neither the government, a private company nor an individual has the right to destroy it or to convert it into personal property. This is the position of indigenous communities everywhere. The resources are for sustainable subsistence of millions of people on the earth. The same idea was expressed in the words attributed to Chief Seattle of the Dwamish Tribe in America when he said words to the effect: ‘Who are you to buy and who are we to sell the sacred river and mother earth?’
Participating in various people’s struggles to resist displacement from natural commons for over 15 years, it is evident that where there is resistance by the people of the soil to protect natural resources and their habitats, they never claim that these are their ‘private property’. Rather they areprepared to protect and preserve these resources, as well as their cultural and social identity, at the cost of their lives because these commons are sustainable. From 1999 to 2010 in the eastern Indian state of Odisha 38 tribals and fisher folk have been shot dead by the police when they tried to protect their right over land, forest and water. This is nothing but state-terrorism unleashed on people to exploit the commons for the corporations. These commons have sustained their life and livelihood along with community existence and socio-cultural identity.
Sumani Jhodia another old tribal lady rejected Rs 50,000 from the Chief Minister of Odisha seven years after the police firing in Kashipur. Her bold question before the august gathering in the capital Bhubaneswar was:
“why should I receive this money from those who have killed our boys? We have been agitating to keep our hills, river and land, but we get bullets. If you take bauxite by digging our hills, the water will dry up and our land that you acquire will be destroyed forever. Who will feed us? How can you people get free air and sweet water?”
These natural resources are not their personal property, it is for all. These are to be preserved and protected for the right to livelihood. To be with nature and believe these commons are sustainable and meant for all but not for profit is not a question of emotion or romanticism. To be with these commons is a source of pride for tribals who are custodians of their commons as the gifts of nature but not as property. They do not believe in accumulation of assets from these resources. They use only for subsistence and worship it as god to be with them forever.
Commons: Concept and definition
The concept of commons has its origin in nature, which has various spaces being used as commons. From the very beginning of human history, there was one common i.e. the earth. In the real sense of commons, it has no boundaries of class, race, culture or physical boundaries of nations or specific communities. Commons have given birth to different living patterns, ways of life and ultimately different cultural entities with community based co-existence with nature. These commons, the forests, land, air and water, are usually known as natural commons. From these natural commons many physical commons have come to being as holy places, lives and livelihoods of millions of human beings.
In the historical perspective of indigenous people of the world, there are different geographical commons which had given them a sense of belonging to the soil, water and air as the spirit of human lives. From generation to generation, these indigenous communities never believed in the concept of personal ownership of anything that they get from these commons. They treat these sources as the gifts of nature for which, not only are they grateful, but have a duty to protect and preserve for the future. From this concept of generosity has emerged multiple community ethics, based on the principle of common uses of resources collectively and cooperatively. This is the basic foundation of community life in natural physical commons. Whether it is the North or South or anywhere in the globe, indigenous communities worship the Earth as their mother. For many tribal communities in India, especially in Odisha, they believe the entire natural environment is one common, which they revere as Mother Earth.
Niyamgiri hills as a common for tribal Odisha
In Niyamgiri hills of Eastern Ghats in Odisha, indigenous communities such as the Danguria Kandh, Kutia Kandh and Jharania Kandh worship the earth as Dharani Penu (earth god). Niyamgiri hill is worshiped as Niyam Raja (God of Law). In this mountain, the tribes use water for agriculture and domestic purposes. They treat different natural water springs as deities in different names according to their different uses. While a stream is regarded as a constituent of a hill, they both are also considered separate entities. Water represents the goddess Eyu Penu (water deity) which has many names, because of its different origins from the same hill. The most common synonym for Eyu Penu is Gangi Penu.
Sangria and Katie tribals believe in community ownership. They have lived in harmony with the forest for centuries. Sangrias live on the hilltop and Kutias live on the foothills. They collect minor forest products (MFP) for their daily consumption. They sell the MFP in the local market for buying other materials like cloth, salt and kerosene. Shifting cultivation was the main form of agriculture. That proves they did not believe in ownership of a particular piece of land or forest. Shifting cultivation was necessary for the growth of big trees. When the British took over the forests, the trading community seized the opportunity to misuse the shifting cultivation practice of tribals for feeding their timber business.
The tribals in Niyamgiri define their commons in a village and region. The bank of river where they use water is called as ‘chuana’, the land where millets are produced is called as ‘dangar’, graveyards for elders are known as ‘bada mahana dangu’ and for children is called ‘mila mahana dangu’. Where fruits are grown the area is known as ‘bada’, for example haladi bada and sapuri bada etc. The market place is called as ‘hata’ and festivals known as melia parba and mandiarani parba. In the plains near the Niyamgiri hills villagers use to call the land as bagada, from where they collect different kinds of MFP.
The many different characteristics of the physical environment of Kutia tribals are sharply defined. A hill, for example, is divided in to four basic regions: the soru jaka (hilltop), soru tude (mid-hill slope), soru nede (lower-hill slope) and soru panga (foothills). When the hill is the place of settlement, some of these terms change. The soru nede is referred to as nella, once the area has been converted from forest to cultivated plots. The soru panga is known as baru when used as location for a village.
The spiritual dimensions of the natural habitat and religious code of conduct demonstrate their respect for environment and regulates the use of the region’s resources. Their relationship with nature is manifold. Ecologic, organic and spiritual aspects emanate from nature as a unified whole. They use the term ‘basa’ to denote the place of shelter, social gathering or festival, which is used as a common for ordinary human beings. ‘Basa’ means environment in their understanding. It has many components like elu basa (individual house), naju basa or elu gunjare (village with human beings, animals, kitchen gardens, livestock shelters) and tedi basa as a recreational place (to sit and converse, exchange thoughts over a drink).
Over time, coexistence of tribals with Panos (Dalits) was established in many forest areas. Panos were invited to be with the tribals as their communicator to the outside world. In many villages, tribals were considered kings and Panos as ministers. Both communities enjoyed the benefits of common resources, though the tribals were dominant.
Niyamgiri hills as a global common
The Niyamgiri hills are of global importance as an ecological heritage. It has given birth to two rivers Vansadhara and Nagabali and 36 perennial streams. It is not only culturally and socially important but also sacred. This is a place of wild animals like elephants, tigers and some rare species. An indigenous variety of paddy is found there.
These hills have rich deposits of bauxite, known as war diamonds, as a primary raw material for the strategic metal aluminium. But bauxite, a gift of nature, is not to be used only as weapons to destroy human civilisation but as a mineral in the soil that nourishes the plants. In nature, aluminium’s metallic form is always hidden through bonding with oxygen and other elements. With frequent fusion with water, it plays a vital role in retaining moisture in the soil by which fertility is maintained.
Global capital as an agent of imperialist globalisation has come to rape the sacred soil and exploit the heart of the living commons like Niyamgiri by mining, for monetary profit over people. The local to global human chain (tribals from Niyamgiri to human rights activists of Norway to the concerned people of England) could raise the voice of protest against the destruction of nature’s sustainable water system and forest diversities. The combined effort of the global people’s opinion and the laws to protect the rights of the forest dwellers could prevent Vedanta from mining in the Niyamgiri hills. Saving Niyamgiri as a natural common is the result of the global campaign against global warming. Although it took a long time, ultimately the campaign is a success.
In Odhisa the mountains with bauxite are called ‘mali’—Baplimali, Kuturumali, Sijimali, Kodingamali, Deomali and Panchapatmali—and are considered commons. These commons having minerals underground are under threat from the global market. Some have already been plundered by global capital. And, like the tribals of Niyamgiri or Baplimali, people living in various natural commons in the world have been engaged in resistance to protect their habitat from the terrorism of polluting industries. The tribal’s relationship between nature and their socio-economic life indicates that nature as a common has many commons, which are used, protected and preserved by the tribals. These commons are the source of community development and socio-cultural identities.
Forests: The mother common
The forest as a common is losing its space for use as resources of sustainable human existence with dignity. They have not only been the source of forest products gathered by the tribals but also for millets and other nutritious food cultivated by them. Indigenous communities did not aspire for personal property nor use the language of ownership—‘my’ forest, ‘my’ river or ‘my’ land. Rather they always speak ‘our’ forest, ‘our’ streams and ‘our’ land. ‘Our’ includes the plants, animals and spirits too. Treating them as deities, indigenous people neither believe nor claim ownership over them either as individuals, clans or tribes. On the contrary, they emphatically assert that they belong to these commons which are protectors of the present and guarantor of the future generations.
In the process of industrialisation and mining, the market economy treats forests as the major source of economic development. Forest resources are being converted as raw materials to be used as commodities for the market. Since the colonial rule, forests are treated just as an asset of the government. Consequently, tribals who protect the forests as custodians became subservient to the rules and regulations that are meant for forests. Even after independence the Indian government behaved not as a trustee of people’s resources but as the owner. As a result of the development paradigm chosen, and the assumption of ownership, forests are being sacrificed for mega industrial projects. Due to mining, the green vegetation is destroyed, the perennial water flows are being dried up, and ultimately the rich biodiversity along with the food basket of tribals are being depleted. In this process of destruction the right to commons has become restricted and controlled by the dominant. With increasing assertion of government ownership and restrictive controls, many commons have become extinct.
When the state as the trustee of commons behaves as owner of property, the tribal communities have to stake their claim to the common resources for sustainable subsistence at least to ensure the existence of commons. The Forest Rights Act, is the product of such claims through continuous struggles to establish both the individual right to livelihood and the community right over resources.
Rivers as the natural commons
The rivers flowing from the womb of the hills are also commons from which the tribal and non-tribal agricultural communities use water as the main input for agriculture and domestic purposes. The fishing communities are dependent on the rivers for their traditional livelihood. But modern development projects with their infinite appetite for water have made pure water scarce and rivers a source of dispute. The different stakeholders are forced to fight for a share of water. The market led polity has converted water from being a common to a commodity, a property that can be owned opening the gates for privatisation. In the name of development not only are rivers being diverted, but they are reduced to being sources of big dams. The water in the dam is commercialised to benefit the industrial houses at the cost of farmers who treat the water in dams and reservoirs as commons. In the era of market led globalisation, these dams and parts of rivers have been handed over to corporations who can invest capital to use water as raw material either in sole or semi-exclusive contracts.
In many parts of India the new built commons such as dams, reservoirs and canal systems have been converted into assets of private companies. In Odisha, the Hirakud Dam on the Mahanadi was built for irrigation and flood control in the downstream and to produce electricity which was essential for the households of the state. It was hailed as a ‘temple of modern India’ by then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Subsequently, it is used almost solely by corporations, depriving the farmers of water for agriculture, essential for food security. The commons—the water and the river—have effectively been privatised though the proclaimed agenda was to enhance their use. Enhancement or, to use the more favoured term today, ‘development’ is most times to turn the commons into private property. Similarly, when communities use the rivers to ensure sustainable physical commons, they are taken over as dumping places of hazardous wastes of polluting industries, which are located on the banks of rivers. This misconduct destroys the very existence of commons.
The system of traditional irrigation in tribal areas demonstrates indigenous knowledge of irrigation. The water flowing from the hilltop is blocked by stones at various places and diverted to the slopes where millets are grown. They store the water to use in other seasons. This system is called ‘Munda, Kata, Bandha’. Chilika, the biggest lake in Asia, is used as common being a gift of nature. Over 100,000 fishers use it for traditional fishing. It is home to rare species of fishes and a rare ecological shelter for migratory birds from the coldest regions of the world. But the market forces have brought in chemical aquaculture to replace natural fishing displacing the traditional fishing community and poisoning life. To protect a sustainable, ecologically balanced Chilika chemical pisciculture should be banned. Access of the traditional fishing community to the lake for their livelihood must be ensured by law.
Due to the conditionality of the World Bank, the water policies of the nation states have paved the way for private investments and corporate management of water resources. For example, 26 kms of Sivanath River in Chhattisgarh was given to a Delhi Company to sell water as a commodity. The company asserted that this right meant they had ownership of all the water in the area—including the groundwater. As a result, not only was the fishing community was deprived of its right to fish, there was even restriction in the farmers using the groundwater on either side of the river. When the affected people revolted against privatisation, the government was forced to withdraw the company’s license. Some companies in different parts of the globe have even asserted their right to all water, including rainwater, in the command area.
The river systems of the world are living natural commons. They have given birth to many civilisations and cultures. But because of ecological disasters, many rivers have died, some dried up and many are polluted. Rivers traversing multiple countries have been overused by the powerful nations. The Mekong river starts from Tibet and goes through Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. But the seven big dams constructed by China on this river deprive the tail-end countries from equal river-water sharing. Similarly for the Brahmaputra. The glaciers of the world from Iceland to the Himalayas are very important natural commons which are key to human existence. If these melt, a part of the earth would be submerged as the sea levels rise. To keep this and the downstream commons unharmed, the global warming caused by human activities has to be curbed. The biodiversity of river systems across the world should be protected, making it a global agenda.
Food, commons and the village economy
Natural commons cumulatively satisfy the minimum needs of common people. When these commons are under threat by market forces through technological hegemony, we should recognise agriculture and the fields as a new common to be developed organically. Agriculture and water bodies such as the seas, lakes, rivers and reservoirs should be considered as centers of food basins and be accepted as commons. This explicit recognition is a prerequisite to ensure the right to food. The right to food can only be ensured if there is sustainable agriculture. To ensure sustainable agriculture, the natural requirements for it—for instance cultivated and cultivable lands, rivers and underground water—should not be diverted to non-agricultural use. Agriculture has to be liberated from the onslaught of chemical and industrial farming and corporatisation. This sustainability has to be reinforced by law and ensured by restoring agricultural land to the tillers and the forests to tribals coupled with sufficient incentives for organic farming. No industrial ventures should be allowed to displace farmers or tribals at the cost of food security.
In agriculture, farmers have the right over their indigenous seeds along with natural manure. But monoculture and genetically modified seeds of corporations have trespassed into the field of farmers and destroy the fertility and sustainability of seed and soil, endangering the very existence of food diversity. Indigenous paddy varieties are the best of selection through traditional farming from generation to generation. Farmers all over India use and exchange varieties of indigenous seeds, in the firm practice of sharing knowledge, expertise and nature in keeping with the best values of the commons and community. These seeds have been developed according to soil and climate. These seeds have different names at different places depending upon local vocabulary, climate and socio-cultural nomenclature.
In Odisha, the different varieties of paddy are called Hazira, Kanaka Patia, Kalasura and Kedaragouri. In uplands these are called as Biali. A variety of paddy harvested in sixty days is named Sathika (Sath means 11560 days). Similarly a variety harvested in 120 days called Laghu. A tasty variety used daily is called Vojani (Voj means eating). Kakudi manji (literally cucumber seed) is the name of a variety of paddy that resembles the seeds of cucumber. Mayur Kanthia (kantha means neck) resembles the spots on the neck of peacock. Thus there are numerous varieties representing the diversity of seeds in just ‘paddy’ or ‘rice’. In the green revolution juggernaut, these varieties have vanished due to mechanised corporate farming with high technology invading traditional agricultural sector to impose monocultures and monopolising food production. In traditional agriculture, exchange of seeds was common. The present system of patents have not only destroyed these natural seeds but also prevents sharing and improvement by the farmers. The WTO and other multilateral inter-government bodies are working to bring agriculture under corporate control globally. In various countries, governments are prevented from giving any protection to traditional farming as a condition for being in various treaty bodies.
Genetically modified seeds are a new threat which could lead to disaster in food security. Where agriculture land has been taken from tillers, used for non-food purposes and enjoyed by the corporations, as is the case in entire Latin American countries, there has been perpetuation of chronic poverty. Some of these countries like Venezuela, Bolivia and Brazil are trying to return the agricultural lands from the corporate to the farmers in the changed political set up.
Sea coast: a global common
The seas and the coasts are very important not only because various communities get food from the sea but because traditional fishing communities depend upon the sea for their sustainable livelihood. The coast with rich mangroves is the home for many species of fish. It is the first line of defence in natural calamities like cyclone to save the coastal populations. People also need to enjoy nature’s bounty. Salt, the most needed food ingredient of the human being is the natural product of sea. Therefore the seashore remaining a common is vital for the health of both the coastal and inland communities.
Coastal ecology is an important component of climate and environment. When there is a sea or coast related natural disaster, disaster capitalists successfully invade the coasts with money bags to alienate the coasts from the traditional communities in the name of disaster mitigation. Once they establish themselves as ‘stakeholders’ then they move on to ‘marine development’ which would severely restrict, and many times displace, coastal communities. Commercial activities like hotel and recreation centres along with corporate owned ports fragment the commons and turn it into restricted access enclaves of private property. The ecology is disturbed, the beauty is disfigured and the sea becomes private property of capitalists who see it as a investment vehicle for generation of profit.
El-Niño is a threat to the seas of the world. If there is El-Niño in one part of the sea the other parts will also to suffer. There will be loss of sea species. The behaviour of the sea would change, resulting in natural disasters in many parts of the globe. The protection of this natural common as the key to climatic justice demands formulation of a charter of basic principles which would not allow polluting human activities in the name of development, commerce or war by any country. These should be agreed upon by the member countries of the United Nations Organisation. It is essential to have an effective mechanism that is strictly followed.
There should be national and international policies to prevent the destruction of water resources and ensure the right to these commons by the communities and preserve biodiversity. Natural commons which provide access to water, medicinal plants, and food should be declared inviolable and cannot be sacrificed for any project or institution. This can empower the communities to take care of these commons in their interest of socio-economic-cultural security and identity.
Village fairs and common markets
Rural weekly hatas in different localities of our country and the vending zones in the streets and cities have space for buyers and sellers without class discrimination. In tribal areas these weekly hatas are not only places of exchange and selling of commodities but include socio-cultural and socio-religious functions, cultural expressions, entertainment, religious obligations and social gathering. Hatas are festive spaces, and a lot of the entertainment is free. They dance, drink, trade and make merry in hatas. The closest approximation of hata in English would be weekly village fair. Normally it is translated as weekly market reducing it to only a commercial hub, stripping away the very many socio-cultural and socio-religious functions that give it vibrancy. Foreign investment in retail shops ruin village hatas and urban vending zones. The street vendors’ livelihoods are being lost in this process.
In these ‘common markets’ everybody from poor farmers to rich consumers have free access to sell or buy according to their choice. Various items produced in the villages are available here. These vendors have a social relationship with the customers, the produce and products on sale. The market is based upon community needs as well as social harmony. The mega investment malls are a place for rich consumers. They displace thousands of vendors from common spaces—right from village hatas, to the mom-and-pop stores to the pavement hawker. There should be restriction in organised retail. Social protection should be given to the common markets through infrastructural facilities. Of course there are dark sides to the hatas. Some hatas have been invaded and have become places for exploitation. The non-tribal traders exploit the innocent tribals and practice unfair means in the business, due to asymmetric knowledge and power relations. A self-regulating mechanism should be in place to maintain these commons and keep them free from exploitation.
Rural roads were well maintained as commons in the past. People planted trees which gave fruits and shelter to the travellers, who most often walked. But when these roads are ‘developed’—meaning widened to connect the city to the village and national highways—the commons became the property of a construction company to the exclusion of the community. A fundamental contributor of this appropriation and alienation by design is that these roads are meant to connect the city to the village and not the village to the city. It is part of the continuing appropriation of the resources of the village (the weak) by the city (the strong). People have to pay tax to use these newly developed roads. Some highways and all express ways are fenced off from the surrounding countryside. As a result people, even those who live on the villages by the roadside, are alienated from these roads. The new rules make it virtually illegal for the people to take care of them or plant roadside trees ever again.
Threats to the commons
The commons communities have developed an ethic and framed laws on the governance and maintenance of these commons without claiming them as property. They have developed cultures and social identities which have given birth to nations. In contrast, the present political structure of the nation-state is subservient to the capitalist system and imperialism, which is designed to destroy the commons through liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation. It does not believe in social equilibrium or in the community right over resources. The concepts of private property and individual ownership have become basic principles, making everything commodities for sale and purchase. Profit as the guiding principle is the destroyer of the commons.
Physical natural commons have been used and sustained as the common wealth of communities. It gives identity to many communities as the center of their cultures and socio-economic growth. The service commons like agriculture (food sector), rivers, lakes, dams are interlinked and these have origin in natural commons. Plundering of resources by global capital has resulted in the common people losing their right to access these resources. Indiscriminate use of technology for resource extraction in the name of ‘development’, but in reality for accumulation of capital, is a threat to the existence of physical commons. As a result, crisis in the service-commons is inevitable. Though the global economy claims ‘growth’, and there are many billionaires created, hunger, deprivation and chronic poverty are abundantly visible in many parts of the world after technological exploitation of natural resources. The food sector is most vulnerable because of indiscriminate industrialisation and mining on agriculture and forest lands.
The paradigms of development through the process of globalisation, especially after the inception of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) are destructive in nature and affect the sustainable resources by making them vulnerable as a consequence of big global corporate investment like the Korean Pohang Iron and Steel Company, POSCO, in Odisha. This kind of capital investment destroys the sustainability of very viable commons as well as the vocabularies used by the locals. The biggest threat to this commons of food grains (both the physical grain and the knowledge embedded in its socialisation) and complementary commons like water emerges from the state’s invitation to and facilitation of corporations in acquiring and grabbing these commons. POSCO, the South Korean Company having American investment, has come to Odisha to acquire 6000 acres of multi-cropped land for a steel plant and a captive port. This steel plant will destroy multi-cropped paddy fields, betel vines, fishing ponds and water bodies.
The villagers of Dhinkia, Govindpur, Gadakujanga and Nuagaon have used the sea coast and forest as commons for food production, firewood, grazing grounds and traditional fishing activities. More than 20,000 people will lose their right to life and livelihood after these agricultural land, coastal forests and grazing fields called Jhaun Bana, Balitikira and Jhatajungal, fishing ponds (Gadia) and a small river (Mahanganai) are converted to concrete jungles. Similarly, a captive port at the mouth of Jatadhari river needs 2000 acres of agricultural land. The port will create floods every rainy season destroying crops in thousands of acres of land because the flow of water to the sea has been obstructed. The effluents of the steel plant will be discharged into the sea adversely affecting the livelihood of the fishing community.
POSCO’s investment is partly in mining iron ore in Khandadhara mountain of Sundergarh district of Odisha. Mining will destroy the rich biodiversity and a tributary of Bramhani, including a picturesque waterfall, which is the primary source of water for agriculture. Thousands of indigenous Paudibhuiyan tribals will lose their right to life and livelihood. Their cultural identity will be considerably destroyed since Khandadhar is a spiritual and sacred place for them. This destructive investment is responsible for taking away livelihoods of more than 50,000 people at the plant and mining sites, both tribal and non-tribal, in exchange for a few lucrative jobs to a limited number of the upper middle class.
Where there are bauxite deposits, there are perennial streams. Mining bauxite will end the source of water. To save the commons the law should proscribe such mining, which is the cause of depletion of water sources and destruction of green vegetation.
Endangered commons: A global phenomenon
The present globalised market economy is the biggest threat to these commons, which have become targets for profit over people by the corporate regimes of the world. The lust for money and over consumption drives economic globalisation to exploit natural resources. Through global investment, the market invades and fences the very core of natural and service commons, displaces locals from the natural habitats, destroys their vocabularies together with the destruction of the commons. This deprives the forest dwellers, farmers and workers of their right to livelihood. With the loss of their commons, these marginalised common people are on the verge of losing their identity, resource base and their way of life.
This global investment is a threat to community life and fundamental democratic human rights everywhere in the world. This is an invasion into the socio-economic and cultural heritage of the community. Whether it is POSCO, Tata, ArcelorMittal, Rio-Tinto, Vedanta, Monsanto or Cargil, they squeeze the blood of the communities and the commons to convert it into profits by luxury goods and war equipment. This is the root cause of global warming—the consequence of deliberate destruction of natural commons through technology and capital which move globally as the weapons of the imperialists.
The destruction of commons by the market forces is not an isolated phenomenon in India, but a global phenomenon affecting all countries. Mining of bauxite in Guinea and Jamaica, copper in Chile, Peru and Zambia, Manganese in Pakistan has caused all round devastation in these countries. In Vietnam in the year 2009 there was fierce resistance against plans to exploit mineral resources basing upon local entitlement and environmental causes. People’s resistance to mining in Guatemala is increasing by the day. Protest against mining in SaMarcos has many allies all over Latin America. Eighteen Maya Mam communities in Guatemala have been resisting gold and silver mining, since the mining has resulted in irreparable harm to the life, personal integrity, environment and common resources of indigenous communities. Natural commons like the Tzla River and its tributaries, their only sources of water, have been polluted. A number of springs and wells have dried up. The company Gold Corp, which operates in San Migul community and Sipa Capa, is extending its mining activities to exploit land and mountains.
The people of 30 communities in San Pablo also fight against the private hydroelectric power plant. Resistance has been growing to ecologically devastating Chinese mining invasion of Medang in Papua New Guinea. China Metallurgical Corporation exploits the Ramu Nickel mine in Medang province. As a result it is poisoning fish stocks, marine life and the rain forest. This is an assault on the sovereignty of the people through deprivation of their right to natural commons.
Africa is heading for ecological disaster. The green and gene revolutions are threatening the richness of traditional agriculture. In South Africa a staggering 96% of the area under cotton and 88% under soya beans are genetically modified varieties controlled and monitored by Monsanto. Farmers are forced to quit traditional farming of food grains. In South Africa mining by the trans-national companies is causing untold misery, breaking communities and commons at breakneck speed putting the very survival of the indigenous communities at risk.
The crisis over water intensified when it was privatised and treated as a commodity. In 2000 in Bolivia, the water supply in Cochabamba city was privatised and water tax was increased. But the people resisted and succeeded in taking back water management from the company and restored it to community management. It inspired a worldwide movement for water as a basic right and as a common to be preserved for the community.
The global scenario shows that where there is depletion, exploitation and destruction of natural commons there is abject poverty and deprivation. Because 75% of the resources of the South are enjoyed by the rich minority of the North, the majority of the South (Latin America, Africa and Asia) are gravely poverty-stricken. After exhausting all its oil reserves Myanmar (Burma) is left the poorest country in the world. Similarly, in India the most mined states like Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand are also the poorest.
The remedial and way ahead
There is hope in the commons for socio-economic justice when it gives enough for sustainable subsistence. In the course of human civilisation, from indigenous community to modern society, the physical commons has emerged as part and parcel of nature as the mother of common resources. From these physical commons, many new commons have come into being. Though many commons are being used as the common resources available to all for all time to come, there is dominance of some community or tribe and restricted access to others. Even so, because of the availability of the commons sustained for generations by communities who never claimed ownership, there is hope to restructure the relationship between the human being and the nature as the mother of commons.
In villages, there are various commons ranging from village ponds, tanks, grazing fields, graveyards and spiritual places. Due to the caste system, these commons are being used by the dominant community and others, specifically Dalits, are discriminated against and even excluded. The concept of commons has no place of hegemony of any individual or any dominant community. It works on the doctrine of equity and equality. To establish egalitarian rights of everyone, with equal responsibility for protecting these commons and equal right to the benefits and control, the law against caste-based discrimination should be amended to be effective and be implemented impartially.
Simultaneously, new laws to protect and maintain these physical rural commons need to be enacted. A small mountain near a village is the source of stones for building houses, a place for grazing, a location for firewood and many more uses for the life and livelihood of the community. These need to be retained and protected as the common resource of all the surrounding villages. The law needs to regulate their use for meeting the needs of the community without allowing big players to over consume for their profits.
If the commons can be more viable, well protected and equitably accessed, then communities will be more organised and strengthened with flourishing human civilisation. The commons are not meant only for the particular communities who have territorial presence and use them frequently for traditional occupations. However, the existence of commons mainly depends on how and to what extent the traditional dwellers use it. Therefore for the present as well as the future, their community rights should be legally ensured. Then their belongingness will continue to protect and preserve the commons, so that the commons can serve many beyond these communities. Alienation of these communities from the commons that they have preserved and nurtured through centuries, if not millennia, has led to the destruction of these commons and communities. Their exclusion from management and stewardship has resulted in almost permanent degradation within a short time.
To protect and preserve the commons, there need to be institutional mechanisms backed by constitutional provisions to promote a community based social life, along with community based management of commons through cooperatives. Natural laws should be honoured where commons have natural existence. To respond to the global climate crisis, there should be effective operational institutions free from hegemony of the imperial nations, to prevent the countries from framing laws that are a threat to the commons. Global institutions like WTO, World Bank, IMF should be barred from interfering with any matter related to common resources. In India, the infamous colonial Land Acquisition Act 1894 and its recent amendments should be abolished. There should be a national policy on the use, uses and users of the natural resources to secure ecological balance, socio-economic equity and justice.
Sustainable development is dependent on, and therefore should promote, service-based commons like food production and distribution, common school education and health. Developing physical natural commons together with reformed social organisation and structure of communities is a prerequisite. Though there is discrimination by caste and clan hierarchies in the traditional use and access to commons, the commons are the pillars of community based human society. With the commons the future can see a human society with equitable justice to the ecology and human needs where there would be no place for greed. The prophetic warming of Mahatma Gandhi was that the earth can provide everyone’s need but not their greed. Consumption should be limited so that the commons will be freed from corporate hunting.
The preamble of the Indian Constitution speaks of socialism. The fifth and sixth schedules of the constitution provide partial protection to natural commons in tribal areas. But when it comes to implementation there are several lacunae, gaps and outright obstruction. The Forest Rights Act is a first step to protect the right of forest dwellers. It is essential to prevent corporatisation of commons. But it pushes the tribal community to aspire for individual ownership and so, in the long run, it will fail. There should be legal protection to ensure access to the commons including pasture, forests and water for all for life and livelihood and for the basic needs but not as consumers with unlimited wants.
The natural habitats of wild animals in forest and domestic animals in villages, including their migratory paths, need to be safeguarded so that there will be no human–animal conflict. These natural commons are not safe under government officials. Tribal communities should be empowered to maintain the ecological balance between tree, wildlife and human existence in a forest. They have indigenous knowledge which is not patented. This indigenous knowledge should be protected from piracy and fraudulent patenting by others.
A comprehensive right to food law needs to be in place together with an integrated policy to ensure mass production of food, sustainable forests and community sovereignty over water bodies. This needs to be protected through a common school system of education which would empower traditional communities to use commons in efficient ways with scientific know-how along with their indigenous knowledge system.
Democratic institutions, from the local to global levels, are needed to monitor the democratic functioning of the nation states to prevent them from corporatising the commons. When commons are destroyed, communities die. People lose faith in the law of the land. The nation has not created communities, it is communities that have created the nation. If the communities disintegrate due to the destruction of commons through the state policy, then the state will lose its legitimacy. The natural commons are the pillars of a democratic society which is the base of the sovereign welfare state. Capitalism is the enemy of the commons. Democratic-socialism, without state hegemony, is required for the safety, security and sustainability of the commons in India and in other developing countries.
Judicious use of the commons with equity and sustainability will lead human beings towards universalism across the national boundaries. Therefore, the commons must be sustained without ownership or hegemony of an individual, corporation or state. For sustainability of the commons there should be limits to consumerism. Vulnerable commons as the primary source of lives and livelihood should be identified at different levels (from local to global) and be given legal protection.
Social-democratic ideals should be used to create a community, nation and universe along horizontal engagement levels and not use vertical trickle down models. We have to build a development model based upon the social concept of the commons through an inclusive and participatory decision making system. The gram sabha or local communes as the grassroots unit without state dominance is the ideal. A new value system in the process of alternative development, not to destroy traditional culture but to reconstruct it. There should be a process to review the relationship between the environment and the economy for sustainable development. The effort should be to democratise the access, utilisation and relation to the natural resources on the basis of equality. Conspicuous consumption should be shunned. Transforming the wealth of the commons into commodities and property should be resisted. A simple lifestyle with dignity and ensured access to the protected resources will make the commons sustainable and viable for the present and the future.
References
Forest tribes of Orissa (The Dongaria Kkondh), vol. 1, Man and Forest series, No. 2, General Editors, Klaus Seeland and Franz Schmithusen, D. K. Printworld (P) Ltd. New Delhi, 2002.
Forest tribes of Orissa (the Kutia Kondh), vol. 2, Man and Forest series, No. 6, General Editors, Klaus Seeland and Franz Schmithusen, D. K. Printworld (P) Ltd. New Delhi, 2006.
Indigenous paddy resources from Sri Natabar Sarangi, village Narisha, District Khurda, Odisha.
Sustainable futures, Edited by Marko Ulvila and Jarna Pasanen, published by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Finland, 2009.