Understanding the Dependency of Local Village Communities on Commons for livelihood- a case of Villupuram District, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract

Commons have provided social, cultural, economic and ecological values to the villages of Tamil Nadu through ages. Since a few decades there has been a steady decline in these values of the commons due to their neglect and improper usage. The major reason behind this negligence is the poor understanding of the importance of commons in livelihood generation for the dependent communities. Hence there is a pressing need to understand the dependency of the local communities on thae commons around them and this study aims to establish the fact that commons contribute to the livelihood of the people and understand the interrelationship between the various factors. The primary objective of this study is to assess the dependency of local village communities on commons and to gain insights into the socio-economic, cultural, and environmental dimensions of this dependency. The study adopted quantitative method to perform the analysis. The paper is based on an intensive field study along with a detailed questionnaire survey targeting the local communities who are directly or indirectly associated with the commons. The data was collected form the people of villages in those four regions. 262 people from Vadakarai Thazhanur, 207 people from Melvalai, 130 people from Vedalam and 137 people from Appananthal through the structured questionnaire. The research focuses on the four villages of the Kandaachipuram Taluk in Villupuram district, Tamil Nadu namely Appananthal, Vedalam, Melvalai and Vadakarai Thazhanur. The present study concluded through identifying the problems and solutions associated with the understanding the dependency of local village communities on commons.