Land-use practices and regulations to reduce poverty: Lessons from Anaikatty, Tamil Nadu

Abstract

Poverty reduction measures targeted at rural communities include social welfare schemes, safety nets (public distribution systems, reservation in jobs and education, primary health, etc.) and disaster relief packages (e.g. tsunami and drought relief and Vidarbha package for farmers in distress). Several authors have also discussed the role of better education, health, employment and price structure in poverty reduction (e.g. Ravallion 1998 ; George 2004 ; Sen 2005 ; Swaminathan and Medrano 2004 ). However, along with temporary employment programmes or subsidised distribution of food and free health care, beneficiaries also need natural resources like agricultural land, village commons and forests for the sake of sustained affordable nutritional security and sovereignty. Addressing persistent poverty among rural communities is known to involve enhancing and improving their endowments in natural and human resources (Sen 2000 ). Rightful capacities to own, access, use or manage any natural resource thus become crucial in the rural context for maintaining an array of options for sustenance.