water wars are here: One protestor was killed when police opened fire at a group of farmers demanding release of water from a dam in Amravati district in Maharashtra on February 20, 2006. The farmers

Scarcity of resources for urban infrastructure is a universal concern in developing economies. Also, prudent mandate of macroeconomic management has led to a reduction in hand-downs from higher governments. The sub-national governments have had to look at several alternatives with a sense of urgency.

The Sardar Sarovar Project has been the focus of a long drawn-out conflict between the Gujarat government and experts, on the one hand, and anti-big dam activists, on the other. This is a revisiting of the principles behind an alternative that was articulated 10 years ago, but is still relevant today.

Rising population and over-exploitation of groundwater for irrigation has aggravated conflict among farmers located at the upper reaches and the tail end of the Palkhed canal system of the Upper Godavari project of Maharashtra.

Maharashtra is among the few states in India that has enacted and implemented legislation to regulate the use of groundwater. The Act, known as Maharashtra Groundwater (Regulation for Drinking Water Purposes) Act 1993 stipulates inter alia, a minimum distance of 500 metres between a public drinking water source (PWS) and a well or a bore well of any farmer not used for that purpose.