ABSTRACT
Rajendra Singh has been called the ‘River-maker’ for his work in bringing dead rivers back to life in India's desert state of Rajasthan. At a time when there is widespread recognition of the scarcity of water, it is not surprising that he has received many awards for his work, including the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay award for community leadership. 2 After all, it seems obvious that quenching thirst in a dry and dusty region is in everyone's interest. Well, it may surprise you to learn that this was not the case, and that Rajendra Singh has faced strong opposition from rural élites and government officials, who for different reasons felt that his work was counter to their interests. On one occasion he suffered a fractured skull after a particularly heated debate with rural government officials! The rural élites – mainly power brokers and money lenders – were concerned that more water in the landscape would lead to economic empowerment of the poor, which could liberate these farmers from their clutches. The government irrigation department felt that the traditional systems of water harvesting advocated by Rajendra Singh challenged their scientific knowledge base and threatened their authority and power. So although everyone in that part of India recognized water scarcity as a serious problem, their interests were very divergent. In a sense Rajendra Singh had it easy because at least there was agreement about the common problem, namely the shortage of water in the dark zone, that part of the country where there was no groundwater.
