New Delhi: The Economic Survey 2025-26—tabled Thursday in the Parliament—has advocated for reviving “village commons” in the country, highlighting their importance in “sustainable rural transformation”.
Village commons, also known as common property resources, are all such resources meant for the common use of the villagers. These traditionally community-managed shared resources include razing fields, ponds, and water bodies used by villagers, collectively, for fodder, fuel, cane crushing, water, and livelihood.
The survey has asserted that such resources remain a crucial yet underutilised asset. It has said that while they provide important economic benefits, their value is often underestimated, and they have gradually deteriorated due to “encroachment, misuse, and ongoing pressures”.
Therefore, making a case for reviving village commons, the survey has asserted, “These shared resources support the daily needs and incomes of millions of families, while also conserving biodiversity and providing essential ecosystem services, such as water security and soil protection.”
“Restoring and protecting the commons can strengthen rural livelihoods, safeguard nature, and unlock significant economic value, making them central to sustainable and inclusive development,” it has added.
What are village commons, what led to their decline, and how does the economic survey envision reviving village commons in India? ThePrint has answered in this report.
The decline
The National Sample Survey Organisation, in its 1998 survey, ‘Common Property Resources in India’, first defined common property resources. That survey showed that approximately 15 percent of India’s geographical area comprises village commons.
This 1998 survey said that a large part of India’s natural resources were under the control of local communities and freely available to the rural population in pre-British India. However, with the extension of state control over these resources, there was a drop in the community resources available to the villagers.
The 2011 Census estimated India’s common land to be approximately 6.6 crore hectares—which form biodiversity-rich ecosystems—the economic survey has noted. These ecosystems, it has said, account for almost three dozen different services that support the livelihoods of approximately 35 crore rural people, from providing them with food, fodder, fuelwood, timber, organic manure, and seeds, to giving them benefits such as clean air, water purification, soil retention, and flood control.
However, noting that roughly 2.2 lakh-hectare of land is being annually degraded, it has said, “The degradation has led to declining yields, increased cultivation costs, depleted water tables, shrinking forests, and the unregulated use of pastures. Non-availability of sewage treatment plants in villages has added another layer of complexity.”
The revival plan
The Economic Survey 2025-26 has listed down the various restoration programmes undertaken by the government, including Mission Amrit Sarovar, to rejuvenate the village water bodies and SVAMITVA Yojana to map village commons and private properties, among many others.
It has then proposed a “collaborative approach” with active participation of both the government and local communities to revive and protect village commons.
To achieve this, it has said that first, ‘village commons’ as a distinct land-use category may be officially incorporated, with sub-categories. This would ensure the undertaking of accurate estimation, monitoring, and informed policy intervention, it has asserted.
The survey has referred to the steps taken by the states of Karnataka and Rajasthan in this regard. In Karnataka, the taluk Panchayat has been tasked with consolidating, maintaining, and updating the database of a map of natural resources. Rajasthan adopts a multi-layered approach. The Charagah Vikas Samitis (pasture-land development committees) update records and lay down development plans for grazing lands at the panchayat, block, and district levels. At the same time, the Waste Land and Pasture Land Development Board maintains a statewide repository.
Second, the survey has noted that village commons can be effectively used by the solarisation and establishment of sewage treatment plants that utilise village waste, such as plastic.
Third, it has suggested training and capacity building for local body officials working in rural areas, to equip them with the necessary skills for participatory rejuvenation of village commons through solarisation, waste-to-energy systems, and sustainable management.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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