Who Controls Local Resources?

"Does groundwater, ever scarce in this mostly agrarian nation, belong chiefly to those who dwell above it, or to those who can create the most economic bang per gallon?

More broadly, the case reflects the collision of two revolutions in India: top-down economic liberalization aimed at attracting foreign firms to India, often by ceding to them scarce natural resources in the belief that they can use them most efficiently; and bottom-up village democracy - India boast more than two million elected representatives - in which local governments are growing increasingly assertive in exercising control over the pace and methodology of the country's economic development."