Commoning under the new rangeland development paradigm: ‘Pastoralisation’ of the Banni grasslands of India

Abstract

Granting collective rights over grazing lands is considered a win-win strategy for grassland conservation without compromising pastoralist livelihoods. However, the initial enthusiasm for decentralised management has been dampened due to differing socio-ecological and political outcomes of their implementation. Commoning is increasingly accompanied by commodification and market-based initiatives that undermine the anti-capitalist premises of commoning. Banni grasslands in the Kutch district of Gujarat, India, have undergone numerous development interventions by NGOs and activists to ‘recommon’ pasture lands. Using a mixed-methods approach, we show that the commoning of the Banni which is a response to increasing fragmentation of the landscape relies on invoking an identity of people of Banni as pastoralists first and foremost. We call this process pastoralisation. We argue that calls for commons in Banni, even as they oppose privatisation and agrarian enclosures are embedded in the capitalist economy. Our study shows that the reliance on commoning to address complex issues of resource access and management could lead to the exclusion of marginal actors and the extension of capital and markets into new areas.