Vaishnav, Rachanadevi

Communities largely depend on commons every day; however, they are mostly managed and controlled by the state. This paper is derived from the everyday experience of loss of commons to industries; it highlights the experience of loss is exacerbated by a lack of recognition of community rights over the common's resources. The role of local governance bodies and user communities is negated while allocating local resources for industrial development. The understanding that commons such as wasteland, forests, unsurveyed land, and coastal belts are state-owned contributes to the arbitrary allotment of common resources for development projects.
Methodology
Fieldwork is conducted in select coastal villages of Kachchh (Kutch), Gujarat affected by multiple industrial projects sanctioned contiguously. Coastal commons, such as settled sand dunes, mangroves, marshland, wasteland and grazing land, are essential to traditional livelihood and social and cultural aspects. The paper is based on ethnographic data on experiencing the loss of commons every day. Participant observation and in-depth interviews were employed to understand the complex network of local commons people's everyday dependence on it and experiencing the transition. Field narratives on lack of knowledge about the land allotment for industries left people unaware of the upcoming transition in the region's local ecology and social and economic landscape. Ethnographic data on the opaque nature of land transfer shed light on the absence of community rights.
Key Findings:
Alienating local communities from commons management and governance in the coastal Villages of Kachchh has accelerated the industrial activities undermining the well-being of ecology and community. It left little to no space for communities to resist or raise their concern about the entire process. PIL emerged as the last resort to challenge the common land allotment to industries without consulting the Gramsabha; however, engaging with juridical spaces revealed the darker reality of the absence of vocabulary to assert community rights over commons (In this context marshland, wasteland, intertidal zone, mangroves forests, thorny and shrub forests, grazing land located around revenue villages). Commons governance, largely reliant on government resolutions, largely discusses the provision of allotment of common land for various development purposes rather than community ownership and rights.

Shrinking Commons: Experiencing the transition
Introduction:
Using commons for development projects has transformed local economic, social and cultural landscape interwoven with local common resources. This paper presents the everyday experience of living through this transformation. Industrialisation in coastal villages of Gujarat has resulted in the allotment of large tracts of coastal commons, resulting in restricted access to it, affecting their everyday dependence on commons. It adversely impacted traditional livelihood practices such as cattle rearing, fishing, agriculture, agro-pastoral activities, and the cultural ethos of local communities, which is rooted in local natural resources. Communities seek alternative income-generating activities in the industries; simultaneously, they continue to depend on these natural resources. This paper elaborates on how people cope with the transition in using common and continue to assert their relationship with local resources. This paper illustrates coping, negotiating and manoeuvring through this transforming commons landscape.
 Methodology:
Research aimed at documenting the experience of the loss of commons to development projects living through this transition. Fieldwork is conducted in select coastal villages of Kachchh (Kutch), Gujarat affected by multiple industrial projects sanctioned contiguously. Coastal commons, such as settled sand dunes, mangroves, marshland, wasteland and grazing land, are essential to traditional livelihood and social and cultural aspects. The paper is based on ethnographic data on experiencing the loss of commons every day. Participant observation and in-depth interviews were employed to understand the complex network of local commons people's everyday dependence on it and experiencing the transition.
Key Findings:
Alienating communities from resources has resulted in adapting to alternative income-generating activities. However, communities continue to assert their relationship with local resources through cultural practices, legal contestations in the form of PIL and illegal means of accessing them. Field narratives on the loss of commons and asserting a relationship with local commons are expressions of care for natural resources. This expression is not just rooted in its instrumental value of livelihood-generating resources; it reflects people's deep understanding of its ecological value, which is also intertwined with local communities' cultural values and practices.