Population, Poverty and Environmental Degradation: A Special Case of Common Property Resources (CPRs) in Tamil Nadu

The responsibility of CPRs in rural India's daily affairs is estimated, considering variations in BPL and APL populations, according to recent poverty estimates. The study uses two recent poverty estimates from the Government of India, the 2009 and 2014 reports of the Expert Group on Poverty Measurement, to classify households (HHs) into BPL and APL. This study selected 709 HHs, representing one-fourth of the sample village's total, to examine the role of CPRs and its impact on daily livelihood sustenance of the households belong to BPL and APL. Statistical tools like percentage analysis and averages were used to establish relationships between theoretical variables and investigate the linkage between people and CPRs, particularly between BPL and APL households. The study reveals that 67 per cent of the population relied on CPRs for their life and livelihood. Tendulkar and Rengarajan committee estimates reveal that 54.1 per cent and 58 per cent of BPL and 13.1 per cent and 6.7 per cent of APL households in a sample village rely on CPRs for life and livelihood needs. It shows that 59.5 per cent of the sample HHs relies on CPRs due to poor family background. The study estimate shows that 51.3 per cent of households in BPL and 8.2 per cent in APL, as per Tendulkar committee poverty estimates and 54.4 per cent and 5.1 per cent respectively of BPL and APL category households as per Rengarajan committee poverty estimate relies on CPRs primarily due to poor family background. The study found that 67 per cent of sample households rely on CPRs for fuel wood, with 53.9 per cent and 58 per cent of BPL HHs respectively of Tendulkar and Rengarajan committee poverty estimate relies on CPRs for energy. According to Tendulkar committee estimates, the study found that BPL and APL households in the study village collected an average of 1718 and 1561 Kg of fuel wood from CPRs for cooking and heating purposes.