Saturday, January 31: The Union government’s Economic Survey 2025-’26 places renewed emphasis on the revival of village Commons as a foundation for sustainable rural growth, stronger livelihoods, and more resilient communities. The Survey was released on Thursday ahead of Sunday’s Budget presentation.
“Reviving and protecting village commons…requires a collaborative approach that involves both the government and local communities actively participating,” the document notes. “To achieve this, first, ‘village commons’ as a distinct land-use category may need official incorporation with sub-categories, so that accurate estimation, monitoring, and informed policy intervention can be undertaken.”
In a chapter titled Rural Development and Social Progress: From Participation to Partnership , the survey describes village Commons, also known as Common Property Resources (CPRs), as a “crucial yet underutilised asset” where community institutions, technology, and livelihood generation intersect to support long-term rural transformation. These commons include grazing lands, ponds, water bodies, and shared spaces traditionally managed by local communities.
According to the Survey, around 15% of India’s geographical area comprises village Commons. The 2011 Census estimates common land at 6.6 crore hectares, forming biodiversity-rich ecosystems that support the livelihoods of approximately 35 crore rural people. These ecosystems provide 34 ecosystem services including food, fodder, fuelwood, water and income, and facilitate water purification, soil protection, carbon sequestration, and flood control.
The Survey notes that these ecosystems generate an economic dividend of USD 9.05 crore per year, while contributing directly to the Sustainable Development Goals, including poverty reduction and sustainable livelihoods. Yet, it cautions that “their value is often underestimated”, and that commons have deteriorated due to encroachment, misuse, and rising environmental pressures.
Citing Indian Space Research Organisation data, the Survey highlights the steady expansion of degraded land in India, which has added roughly 2.2 lakh hectares annually in recent years. This degradation has led to declining agricultural output, falling water tables, shrinking forests, and rising cost of cultivation, with the socio-economic consequences felt most acutely in rural areas.
To address this, the Survey underlines the importance of collective action and community participation, drawing on Nobel laureate Elinor Ostrom’s principles for managing common-pool resources. It stresses the need for “clearly defined boundaries”, participatory rule-making, local monitoring, and strong local institutions, supported by tools such as GIS-based registries and targeted capacity-building.
Government initiatives such as Mission Amrit Sarovar, SVAMITVA Yojana, Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch The Rain, and restoration efforts under PM Krishi Sinchai Yojana are cited as steps toward rejuvenating village water bodies and mapping Commons more accurately.
The Survey also extends the idea of the Commons to urban life, arguing that shared spaces depend as much on civic norms, trust, and collective behaviour as on infrastructure spending. “Commons work when institutions make cooperation rational, visible and dignified,” the Survey states, pointing to metro systems and public transport as examples where design, reliability, and fair enforcement encourage orderly collective behaviour.
In sum, the Survey argues that reviving and protecting commons (rural and urban) is central to building a productive, sustainable and inclusive economy.
“Village commons have always been central to rural livelihoods, but have traditionally been viewed through cultural identity or subsistence economic lenses. The recent economic survey has, for the first time, emphasised village commons as an economic resource essential for rural communities to thrive. It has also highlighted the need for restoration of such commons to improve life and livelihoods and to address the climate crisis that affects social, ecological, and economic foundations every day. This is an opportune moment to consider village commons carefully from not just social and cultural perspectives but also for their economic and ecological value. I hope this economic survey will bring renewed emphasis in planning and budgetary frameworks, and place village commons at the centre of governance, and elevate community stewardship of these shared resources."
-Sisir K Pradhan, PhD, University of Waterloo
“The Economic Survey’s renewed focus on village commons is a timely acknowledgment that India’s rural economy depends as much on shared natural resources as on private land and infrastructure. Village commons are not wastelands but vital ecological and economic assets that provide water, fodder, fuel, and livelihood security to millions of rural households. The Survey rightly highlights the need to move away from neglect and encroachment towards a framework of deliberate governance — through formal recognition of commons as a distinct land-use category, strengthening local institutions, and integrating community stewardship with modern tools such as GIS mapping and capacity building. Following the economy survey, Union Budget 2026-27 should take adequate actions on optimal use of commons for making the panchayats self sufficient. Developing panchayat wise inventory of commons is the need of the hour to plan for its sustainable use."
-Pravas Mishra, economist, budget analyst and NRM expert.
"The recognition of village commons at the highest level of policy making is very significant outcome. It is also a moment to emphasise the conceptual importance of the idea of commons which includes but is not limited to its economic value. There is a need to future proof the shared and integrated social, cultural and ecological complexities associated with commons, even as their existence is being formalized in government records. What this would translate into is that projects and programs seeking to increase the productive aspects of commons, don’t lose sight of the ethos of diversity, collective custodianship and terms of use. Several of the areas which are likely to be demarcated into government records are already earmarked for market based investments and land use change. In this case leaving no one behind will need to include not just those who are dependent on the resource but the very idea that commons represent."
-Kanchi Kohli, researcher and educator.
"Government intention regarding protection of commons is laudable," he said. "But there is a gap between intent and actual formulation of laws and policies. The watered down version of MGNREGA appears to be a top down approach that would not help employment guarantee funds to be used through a bottom up process. The Community Forest resource right needs to be conferred on communities for better protection and management of forest commons. Diversion of commons for other purposes ought to be made difficult and existing laws and procedures need to be strengthened further. State and district administrations must be mandated to publish annual reports on the status and health of commons and put them in public domain. Can the national and state governments incentivise local self-government bodies like gram panchayats to protect and improve the commons?"
-Aurobindo Behera, former IAS officer
