BackThe water missionary
Activists such as Rajendra Singh are worthy counters to technocratic dreamers, but much depends on the scale of the water scarcity challenge
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Large parts of India face immense water stress. The key policy debate is whether the solution lies in large projects such as linking rivers or by adopting local solutions based on traditional knowledge.
Rajendra Singh has won the prestigious Stockholm Water Prize for his work with small communities to conserve water sources. His belief that voluntary cooperation among citizens can overcome the challenge of common resources is also to be found in the work of Elinor Ostrom, who won the 2009 Nobel Prize in economics.
It is not clear if the sort of voluntary cooperation possible among small groups is possible when millions are involved. What works for a small village may be impractical for a metropolis. And even less so when one considers global challenges such as climate change. Bargaining costs go up as the scale of the negotiation increases.
Activists such as Singh are worthy counters to technocratic dreamers. But much depends on the scale of the challenge.
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