Abstract
This paper aims to explore self-initiatives in local resource management. Based on two village case studies, it suggests that the willingness of ‘rational’ individuals in a community to design their own institutions of collective action is based on the exigencies of their daily subsistence existence and the complex pattern of reciprocity built into their lifestyle over a lifetime of cohabitation. It limits itself to emphasizing possibilities of indigenous institutions and makes a case for recognizing them which otherwise are largely ignored under external development interventions.