Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Tragedy of commons in IRMA



But when I see as Insider, I don’t find any reason to believe this fact.
Just 3 days before there was a lot of fun in IRMA. “Jatra”, an internal event where hostel blocks locked horns with each other for the title, was organized. A lot of congratulations to “D” block for grabbing the trophy once again. It was the best example of collective action in IRMA in front of my eyes, where 24 individuals of each block fought with other block for winning the event.
Common rooms have been the most important part of Jatra for every block. Most of the blocks started preparation almost a month before so regular meetings were held in common rooms. A lot of strategic decisions were taken by hostel blocks before and during Jatra-
What is our current position?
What to do in next event?
What about next day?
To which block, we should collude to fight a common enemy.
Apart from it, common rooms were the places of preparation for blocks- whether to make props for mock rock or fashion parade, practice for block song, DJ war or adapt tune etc.
I thank a lot to Dr Kurien to provide hostels with common rooms facility. After this I got understood the importance of common rooms.
For whole Jatra, common rooms were the busiest rooms in IRMA. Blocks were preparing whole night for events of next day.
But once Jatra was over, no one looked for common rooms. No one went inside them. No one cleaned the common rooms. Even after three days, Jatra is over. This has become dirtiest place in IRMA.

I tried to find answer to this thing. And it again remembers me two events of Jatra. One is “Dirty Room”, other is “Treasure Hunt”.
As the name suggests, the dirtiest room will be winner. So we did a lot of things so that rooms should look dirty like- Spoiled eggs, dirty cloths and Socks etc. Event happened in morning and surprisingly such dirty rooms were clean by evening. The reason being it is private property of individuals whereas even after two days of event, common rooms still remain dirty, reason being it is common property of 24 individuals residing in that particular block.
In “Treasure Hunt” there was a clue “tragedy of commons” about common rooms and TV room. But no one took lesson from game. And game remained game only.
What could be solution of these problems?
May be, Make rules or game so that blocks will clean their common rooms after Jatra. And most clean common room will be awarded in “Clean room” competition.
Does solution always lie in making rules? Or can we do it collectively.
Please ponder for two minutes…………..

16 comments:

abcd said...
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Anju Lakra said...

I suppose there is no technical solution to this problem. People tend to utilize the benefits of a common but rarely care for its maintenance as it is rightly said that everyone's responsibility is no one's responsibility. This tragedy occurs everywhere,right from the block common room to the statue of the Father of Nation standing at an intersection, all suffer the same neglect. This can only be controlled by means of self-realization. Unless and until everyone gives equal importance to common as he/she gives to private, the tragedy will continue.
Anju Lakra
32004

rj_rannveer said...
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rj_rannveer said...
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Roba Jabeen said...
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Roba Jabeen said...
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Roba Jabeen said...
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Roba Jabeen said...

To bring a solution there should be an interest, an enthusiasm to solve the problem. An interest coupled with a will can enlighten a path that we could have never thought of, but it’s important to give a start. For, a bridge a stone has to step in, and the result is before our eyes. The only solution to problems like Tragedy of Commons in IRMA, is the initiation of interest that should be invoked from within and someone needs to take initiative, however, the initiation should be strong enough to positively impact the behaviour of others.
Roba Jabeen
P32087

Prerna said...

Taking the example of common rooms in IRMA hostels, yes, may be some rules like appointing a person responsible for maintenance of common room (like we have a block representative)or assigning rotational responsibilities to each block member to avoid a fine can help to some extent. But what about the maintenance of the entire block? The staircase, the washrooms, the corridor tube lights burning even during the day time? Or infact the entire campus- TV room, Gym, cafeteria… how many rules can be made? The answer to these tragedies lies in inner conscience of each individual and cooperation among them…

Prerna Gupta (p32030)

TOMARSHUBH said...

Anju,I think it is pretty easy to pass on the baton to Self realization when one wants to escape his/her duty! If it would have been the case the entire world would have been a chaos as no one wants to self realize when something is available for free to them!It's for this reason that the system of fines was invented by the authority! The fines try to check the bending of the rules by the individuals and also they make them self realize at the end that what are they losing at the end..:)
Shubham Tomar
32093

preposterous girl said...

The situation of social dilemma always operates wherever common resources are involved and our Hostel Common rooms are no different. To have a cleaner and an organized common room we have to have, if not rules, then some norms need to be set. Then only we can expect an organized action by our hostel mates.. We all know that “we” have to clean it but to co-operate reciprocity is very important and that can be achieved only with some pre-defined “expected behavior”.

Shweta Singh
32094

Ayan Roy said...
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Ayan Roy said...

I completely agree with Roba. There has to be an interest and enthusiasm from within to solve this problem. I personally believe that the system of imposing fines on students for violating rules is no answer to this problem - at least in the long run. Paying fines in monetary terms is an easy means of evading severe punishment and this could pave the way for more serious offences in the future. This system of imposing fines can have a deterrent effect only if the offender is made to pay the fine out of his own pocket.
As for ‘Jatra’ and its various events, why can’t we have an event like ‘Cleaning the Common Room’ to wrap up ‘Jatra’? (as it stands we are already having an event in the form of ‘Dirty Room’). This event will serve the dual purpose of ensuring a collective effort by all the residents of a block by cleaning up the mess which is created during these two days and fostering a spirit of healthy competition among the blocks in the course of ‘Jatra’.

Ayan Roy
32061

Anonymous said...

To my opinion, solution doesn’t always lie in making "N" number of rules. If rules are to be considered, every block has designated one person i.e.BR who is to take care of such issues. But by making BRs we often forget our responsibility as individuals. We often overlook such critical issues by saying that “It’s BRs responsibility” and bypass our individual responsibility. So, when realization clubbed with a genuine desire to take initiative by not waiting for the leaders to respond to such a problem, can certainly offer a timely solution.
Supriya bajaj
32097

Nilesh Sharma said...

This is a good example of Tragedy of Commons where we need not to go anywhere and we are a part of that also. .Even though if someone starts, people would try to roam outside, so that they cannot be blamed. We are not insensitive and everyone wanted that it should be cleaned, but one question comes, why me only when everyone has the responsibility. I think the best solution is that Jatra result should be announced only after the common rooms are cleaned. If any block fails to do so. they must be awarded by heavy penalty.

sanjana arora said...

Another example could be of the group assignments given to us..Though this is a slightly different situation as here we do not have a common resource but a common task and responsibility that needs to be shared. Since the benefits are shared equally, some may tend to neglect their responsibility as there is no individual private gain. Thus, a tragedy occurs where few people work and the benefits are enjoyed by all. In times of crisis also, one can hardly expect everyone to work together for the common welfare of all.

Sanjana Arora
(32039)