Are goats responsible for increasing desertification? No, say many environmentalists and researchers. In fact, this hardy animal fertilises degraded land efficiently, besides being a valuable source of income and nutrition for the poor

A N CHATURVEDI, former chief conservator of forests of UP and now with the Tata Energy Research Institute, New Delhi, is appalled at the attempts to glorify the goat. According to him, the

IN a semi-arid environment, keeping goats is considerably more rational for the local people than rearing buffaloes, according to a field study done in the degraded lands of Tilonia

Using data from villages in three districts of Western Rajasthan, this paper describes the decline in area and deterioration in quality of common property resources over three decades. The decline of common property resources is associated with institutional changes in the villages.