Her Work and its Contribution to tHe tHeory and PraCtiCe of Conservation and sustainable natural resourCe ManageMent Policy Matters iuCn CoMMission on environMental, eConoMiC and soCial PoliCy issue 19 aPril 2014

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Governing India’s Commons

The Influence of Elinor Ostrom’s Ideas

Harini Nagendra, Rucha Ghate, Jagdeesh Rao

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POLICY MATTERS 2014: REMEMBERING ELINOR OSTROM

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Governing India’s Commons

The Influence of Elinor Ostrom’s Ideas

Harini Nagendra

1 2

, Rucha Ghate

3 4

, Jagdeesh Rao

5

Abstract

Elinor Ostrom’s research on the commons has fundamental implications for the governance 

of commons in India. Research from the International Forestry Resources and Institutions 

(IFRI) network, coupled with remote sensing analyses conducted by Ostrom and colleagues, 

has been fundamental in demonstrating the importance of self-governance for the sustainable 

management of the commons in Indian forests and cities. Recent field experiments conducted in 

two predominantly tribal communities in central India further demonstrate that communities 

with strong previous traditions of shared norms and mutual trust, tend to be non-exploitative, 

non-commercial, and cooperate towards the sustainable harvest of forest resources. Forests 

and other commons form critical components that supplement and support rural communities 

dependent on agriculture, livestock, water and other types of natural resources in large parts 

of India, providing stability and security in an unpredictable environment. In addition to rural 

commons, urban commons such as lakes play a very important role in Indian cities. Recent 

studies on lakes in the rapidly growing incipient megapolis of Bangalore demonstrate the 

importance of polycentric arrangements, involving local citizen groups along with Government 

agencies in monitoring, restoration and protection. Yet, institutional apathy has led to the 

neglect of traditional institutional arrangements and the customary rights of people in the 

solutions proposed under different Government policies and programmes. Currently, common 

and public lands cover almost a fifth of the geographical spread of India. Such land, if brought 

under the ambit of local self-governance institutions, could contribute significantly to the rural 

economy, providing critical ecological functions besides meeting livelihood needs. Recent 

initiatives by the Supreme Court, coupled with State government and national policy changes 

are promising, but much remains to be done. Large scale changes are needed while keeping in 

mind the pillars of Ostrom’s vision—the need for self-governance of the commons at a local level 

that permits flexibility, adaptation and innovation, with the ultimate goal of ensuring equitable 

and sustainable access to the commons for all citizens.

Keywords: Collective action, sustainable use, self-governance, rural and urban commons, India

1 

Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Royal Enclave, Srirampura, Jakkur P.O., Bangalore 560064, 

India, [e-mail]

2

 Center for the Study of Institutions, Population, and Environmental Change (CIPEC), Indiana University, 408 N. Indiana Avenue, 

Bloomington IN 47408, USA.

3

 SHODH: The Institute for Research and Development, 106, K.T. Nagar, Katol Road Nagpur-440013, Maharashtra State, India; 

[e-mail]

4

 International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Khumaltar, Lalitpur G.P.O. Box 3226, Kathmandu, Nepal, 

[e-mail];

5

 Foundation for Ecological Security, Post Bag 29, Anand, Gujarat, India, [e-mail]

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POLICY MATTERS 2014: REMEMBERING ELINOR OSTROM

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GOVERNING THE COMMONS: ELINOR 

OSTROM’S IDEAS 

Born in 1933, Elinor Awam Ostrom’s 

perspective of the world was shaped in an 

era impacted by economic depression and 

global war, resulting in a life-long, deep 

awareness of the limited nature of the earth’s 

natural resources, as well as the capacity 

of communities to come together in times 

of difficulty, to cooperate and provide a 

helping hand to those in need. These beliefs 

were purposeful in shaping a career of 

path-breaking research that demonstrated 

the importance of collective action for the 

sustainable use of natural resources. 

Ostrom strongly believed in the power of the 

local. Yet her impact and influence was global. 

She had a special attachment to South Asia, 

working for decades on issues of irrigation 

and forest management in Nepal (personally 

conducting field work there), and on collective 

action in urban and forest contexts in India 

(Plate 1). Her research on the commons has 

fundamental implications for the governance 

of common property resources in India.  

Ostrom’s analysis of long-term local 

institutions for the commons was done with 

a view to identifying the conditions that 

shaped how “a community of citizens can 

organize themselves to solve the problems 

of institutional supply, commitment and 

monitoring” (Ostrom 1990). Impatient 

with a predominant focus that searched for 

“simple” solutions, she argued for the need to 

distinguish between complexity and chaos, 

often pointing to the importance of complexity 

in biological systems and challenging political 

scientists to go beyond the formulation of 

simple, one-size-fits-all rules. Thus, rather 

than develop a set of rules that presumed to 

dictate how communities would respond in 

all contexts, she articulated her famous set 

of Design Principles—both elegant in their 

simplicity and yet profound. For instance, 

one design principle—often ignored by 

policy makers—states the importance for 

communities to have a “Minimal Recognition 

of Rights to Organize”, i.e. to ensure that the 

rule-making rights of a local community are 

respected by external government authorities. 

Unless this is provided, any group—such as a 

polluting industry—who wants to break the 

rules on sustainable use created by local user 

groups, only has to turn to the government 

to be able to bypass or overturn these 

community rules. 

This Design Principle has profound 

implications for the long term sustainability 

of Indian commons—as is obvious from the 

many recent clashes between industry and 

indigenous communities across the country, 

and discussions between the Indian Minister 

of Environment and Forests and the Minister 

of Finance about setting up a fast-track 

National Investment Board to provide rapid 

clearances to mega-infrastructure projects, 

even in environmentally critical forests where 

indigenous communities are located. 

Commons are of immense importance to 

issues of environmental sustainability, equity 

and democracy in India. Currently, common 

and public lands cover an estimated 45 to 

60 million hectares—almost a fifth of the 

country’s geographical spread. Such land, 

if brought under the ambit of local self-

governance institutions, could contribute 

significantly to the rural economy, providing 

critical ecological functions besides meeting 

various needs such as fodder, food, medicine, 

firewood, etc. This would benefit large rural 

populations. 

In this article, we discuss a number of 

applications of Ostrom’s research on Indian 

commons, and the applications of her far-

sighted analyses to governance of those 

commons. 

OSTROM’S RESEARCH ON INDIAN 

COMMONS 

A key factor in Ostrom’s research was 

the development of the Nepal Irrigation 

Institutions and Systems (NIIS) database, 

which collated and organized information 

on farmer-managed irrigation systems in 

Nepal. Following a request from the Food and 

Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the United 

Nations to prepare a similar database to study 

forest governance, Ostrom and her colleagues 

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