ABSTRACT
Resource degradation and depletion is a serious challenge particularly for resource-dependent developing countries like India which has an agrarian economy and where livelihoods are largely agriculture-based. Decentralisation is being practiced in India as an institutional mechanism to deal with resource degradation and ensure the efficiency, equity, and sustainability in resource management. The institutional arrangements adopt a pluralistic-polycentric approach within a decentralised framework and involve the community, the line departments, and the local government in the management of natural resources. However, in practice, the local governments appear to be sidelinedand the community appears as a prominent institutional choice to manage the resources at the local level. This chapter looks at the policy and the practice of decentralised natural resource management in India by focusing on the actors involved in natural resource management. The chapter concludes that though the policy has included multiple actors, the practice has focused majorly on user groups, ignoring other actors such as the local governments.
