These Rights Have No Use? Forest Land Rights and the Economic and Subjective Wellbeing of Indigenous People in India
dc.contributor.author | Rice, Melissa | |
dc.contributor.advisor | Agrawal, Arun | |
dc.contributor.advisor | ||
dc.date.accessioned | 2017-08-16T12:18:59Z | |
dc.date.available | NO_RESTRICTION | en_US |
dc.date.available | 2017-08-16T12:18:59Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2017-08 | |
dc.date.submitted | 2017-08 | |
dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/137968 | |
dc.description.abstract | The formalization of rural people’s rights to agricultural and forest land is a key policy focus for many developing countries (Larson et al. 2010; Deininger and Hilhorst 2013). These reforms can improve marginalized people’s wellbeing by securing their hold on durable income-yielding assets, especially where land ownership is culturally prized (Holden et al. 2013; Lawry et al. 2014). However, other studies suggest that formalizing de facto land tenure may have negligible or detrimental effects, both economic and subjective (Sjaastad and Cousins 2008; Bose 2011, 2013). India’s Forest Rights Act of 2006 formalizes the rights of indigenous people to the government forestland that they have been using illegally (Government of India 2006). To estimate the results of this major reform, the author and her research assistant conducted 200 household surveys and 42 interviews with indigenous farmers in Gujarat, India. Although the Forest Rights Act is one of the most thorough attempts at forest tenure reform in South Asia, there is little published research on its results. This paper uses regression models complemented by qualitative data to estimate the effects of formal forestland rights on households’ economic outcomes and subjective life satisfaction. Logistic regressions indicate a strong correlation between indigenous households’ land rights and access to government benefits. According to these models, a household with formal land rights was 8.9% more likely to have received a subsidized borewell, and 16.5% more likely have received a home renovation subsidy, than an identical household without rights (p=0.041, p=0.009). There was no significant correlation between formal rights and farm income, rights and food security, nor rights and life satisfaction, perhaps due to pre-existing tenure security or the small amount of land covered by formal rights ii | en_US |
dc.language.iso | en_US | en_US |
dc.subject | land rights | en_US |
dc.subject | forest rights | en_US |
dc.subject | land tenure | en_US |
dc.subject | indigenous | en_US |
dc.subject | India | en_US |
dc.title | These Rights Have No Use? Forest Land Rights and the Economic and Subjective Wellbeing of Indigenous People in India | en_US |
dc.type | Thesis | en_US |
dc.description.thesisdegreename | Master of Science (MS) | en_US |
dc.description.thesisdegreediscipline | School for Environment and Sustainability | en_US |
dc.description.thesisdegreegrantor | University of Michigan | en_US |
dc.contributor.committeemember | Meeks, Robyn | |
dc.contributor.committeemember | Hardin, Rebecca | |
dc.identifier.uniqname | mwrice | en_US |
dc.description.bitstreamurl | https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/137968/1/Rice_Melissa_Thesis_2017.pdf | |
dcterms.subject | adivasi | |
dc.owningcollname | Dissertations and Theses (Ph.D. and Master's) |
Files in this item
Remediation of Harmful Language
The University of Michigan Library aims to describe library materials in a way that respects the people and communities who create, use, and are represented in our collections. Report harmful or offensive language in catalog records, finding aids, or elsewhere in our collections anonymously through our metadata feedback form. More information at Remediation of Harmful Language.
Accessibility
If you are unable to use this file in its current format, please select the Contact Us link and we can modify it to make it more accessible to you.