Vol: 4, Issue: 1 2014

Page: 52-61

Income & Employment Gains from Commons: An Empirical Investigation

A.R.Kulkarni

This paper is based on the study of common property resources (CPRs) in eleven villages in Dharwad district in Karnataka. The study highlights the importance of CPRs in providing employment and income to the rural households, especially weaker sections of the society. It shows that on an average about `11 percentage of households depended on CPRs for employment. On an average male member got 38 days of employment whereas women members got only 32 days of employment. The CPRs generated Rs. 1752 per household (i.e. around 11 percent of total income) during the year 1999-00. The Gini coefficient for income from private property resources (PPRs) is 0.47 and Gini coefficient for total income (i.e. income from PPRs and income from CPRs) is 0.46. This shows that the CPR income has not helped to reduce rural inequalities created by PPRs. CPRs were the major source of employment and income for most of the households in selected villages. With depletion and degradation of CPRs, households find it difficult to get adequate and gainful employment on CPRs. Now, people are forced to seek other means of livelihood like working as daily wage laborers. In the absence of wage labor they remain idle. The depletion of CPRs has been adversely affected weaker sections of the society. The adversity of depletion is more on women than male.