12. Land, Knowledge, Strategies

This first chapter in Part III, begins an attempt to draw conclusions about farmers’ social networks in terms of household power to influence and access livelihood assets through social relations. Social network power is linked to household land development beliefs and behaviors, comprising knowledge, involvement, and perception of influence on land development. Social networks are then linked to livelihood strategies. The relationship between organizational power (in this case, the perceived ability to influence land use planning and development) and livelihood strategies was in one sense clear: regardless of strong or weak social network power, the Yamuna Khadir community perceived no or minimal influence (n = 98; 88%), and they were planning informal or, rather, not planning livelihood strategies. What did emerged was a distinction between households reporting detailed versus vague livelihood strategies and those planning to stay in Delhi versus planning to return to their homeland. Households with strong social networks were significantly more likely to report detailed land use knowledge, general knowledge, and perceived ability to influence land use planning and development. Of the 14 (12%) households who believed they had an influence on land use development, more than half (n = 8) gave detailed livelihood strategies. And households with detailed livelihood strategies were statistically three times as likely to believe they had an influence on land use planning and development.