POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE CONFLICTS ALONG THE ASSAM-ARUNACHAL PRADESH FOOTHILL BORDER

The paper comprises a socio-political analysis of the practices of the community seed banks (CSBs) of the Deccan Development Society (DDS) managed by Dalit (lowest caste) women in Telengana, South India. The objective is to investigate the collective activity of this marginalized community in defending local millet varieties by creating common pool of seeds. We observe conservation of seeds through strategies of culinary resilience and analyze the effects of this collective activity of resistance through the governance and functioning of CSBs managing the new commons or the seeds. For this we introduce the idea of social ‘space of commons’ developing an empowering normative subjectivity among the community and extendable beyond that. We refer also to attempts of the community in extending this space of commons through interface with the government (lobbying for inclusion in government programmes) and the market (setting up restaurants). Keywords common pool resources, community seed banks, marginalized community, new commons and space of commons.

2013

"Commons are neither private property nor open access resources. This is not nationalised property either. Commons are the resources used by recognizable group of people who derive their livelihood (part or full) from these as well as recognize their role as steward or guardian of the same resources. Governance of commons has become immensely significant because of growing encroachment on commons and subsequent privatization of the same in a conspicuous manner. Such attempts not only deprive commoner’s access to commons but also wipe out the flow of ecological, social and bequeath benefits of commons. This book tries to have (a) better conceptualisation of harmonic cohabitation of resource conservation and livelihood generation and (b) evidences of sustainable reconciliation between governance of commons, conservation of resources and livelihood security of commoners. The book is divided into five sections and each section has a specific emphasis. Emphasis of the first section is ‘governance of commons’. Likewise, the focus of the second section is ‘commons and livelihood’ and third section is ‘effect of climate change on commons’. Sections four and five accentuate respectively on ‘poverty, social exclusion and commons’ and ‘stories of commons’. ""

Analysis of ways to codify customary communal shifting cultivation land in Myanmar Kirsten Ewers Andersen Stating the Problem Research into the Commons can contribute to the struggle for land rights of indigenous communities, if the research can suggest the means for the indigenous communities to articulate their claims and seek ways to have their land protected under statutory law in a way that does not distort their traditional tenure arrangements. The present research looks at this struggle for land rights in Myanmar to show how the application of the Theory of the Commons and its guiding principles can prepare a stepping stone for the preparation of procedures that eventually could become embedded in a legal and regulatory framework for land registration of customary communal agricultural land of upland ethnic groups. The argument is that in S. E Asia it is better for indigenous communities to try to find a way to register their customary communal agricultural lands despite the possible loss of original indigenous notions of the wider landscapes and territory in which their agricultural land use is embedded. If land is not protected by some legal means, the land may be lost to land concessions in agribusiness. Control of land is the basis of communities' livelihood as well as power and influence today. Present day governments in S. E. Asia wish to retain as much land as possible under their control based on the eminent domain of the state with the aim to promote agribusiness for export production turning land into capital. 1 Land grabbing in the 21st century of any untitled land by the State and commercial interests is a risk that communities today can counter primarily through protests, if they dare. They cannot go to court, because their land is not titled. In Myanmar, as elsewhere, there had been an acceleration of business and corporate interest in mineral and natural resources and agricultural land for business in rubber, oil palm, corn and cassava, not to mention tropical timber, and once the timber is gone the land can be planted with palm oil as has happened all over Indonesia. In S. E. Asia, this has led, as said, to comprehensive loss of untitled land for upland indigenous peoples in Myanmar, in Lao PDR and in Cambodia. The aim of the research was as advocacy research to influence the military government of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) during the reform process that started 2012. The goal was to protect the customary tenure arrangements of indigenous communities in the uplands through a possible customary communal land registration based on an idea that a codification of customary communal tenure under an overall statutory framework would protect the land against the ongoing land grabbing by agribusiness and the military. The intermittent research during 2013-16 therefore focused on recording the customary tenure arrangements of pilot communities in Chin

In response to the economic and ecological crises which are becoming more and more frequent, more serious questions have emerged about hegemonic notions of development, which are based on the assumption that economic growth, namely the increase in commodity production, may continue forever. The discontent with the hegemonic development approach and the economic policies implemented in line with that approach has become all the more apparent following the global economic crisis which began in the USA in 2008 and has continued up to this date. On the other hand, we see that the fundamental problem of the social oppositions which emerged in many regions ranging from the Occupy Street movement in the USA to the social movements in Latin America, from the revolts in the Arab regions to the demonstrations against the austerity policies in Europe and the resistance at Gezi Parkı in Turkey is related to how to turn that social energy into a transformative capacity and to unite these movements around an alternative program. Within this context, it has become all the more important to leave the hegemonic development approach and to discuss alternative policies that aim at surpassing the capitalist social relations, which are the basis for this hegemonic approach.

We document the economic and socio-cultural vulnerability of a forest-dependent community inhabiting the forest fringe island of Satjelia in the Indian Sundarban. Using simple artisanal methods, they have practiced traditional livelihoods like fishing and collecting wild honey from the forests for more than a century. Despite having established cultural integrity and traditional occupations, this group isnot indigenous, and are therefore treated as 'others' and 'settlers.' An ethnographic study describes these various forms of livelihoods and the ways that threatens local subsistence. We also document the bureaucratic and hierarchical structure of protected area (PA) management, showing it has little or no accommodation of this community's local traditional knowledge. Finally, we ask whether there is any scope for integrating 'non-indigenous' environmental knowledge, for a more egalitarian transformation of socio ecological relations within these communities. Nous documentons la vulnérabilité économique et socioculturelle d'une communauté tributaire de la forêt qui habite l'île de la sylviculture de Satjeliadans le Sundarban indien. En utilisant des methods artisanales simples, ils ont pratiqué des moyens de subsistence traditionnels comme la pêche et la collecte de miels auvage des forêts, depuis plus d'un siècle. Bien qu'ils aient établi l'intégrité culturelle et les professions traditionnelles, ce groupe n'est pas indigène et sont donc traités comme «autres» et «colons». Une étude ethnographique décrit ces différentes formes de moyens de subsistence et les moyens qui menacent la subsistance locale. Nous documentons également la structure bureaucratique et hiérarchique de la gestion des aires protégées (AP), qui ne tient guère compte des connaissances traditionnelles locales de cette communauté. Enfin, nous demandons s'il y a lieu d'intégrer les connaissances environnementales «non autochtones», pour une transformation plus égalitaire des relations socio-écologiques au sein de cescommunautés.

ipedr.net

2014

Women’s unequal access to resources in any given economy is widely recognized as a major source of gender inequality. Privatization and State appropriation of what was otherwise common land, affects those who depend most on this resource to sustain their livelihoods. interviewed by Ana Abelenda