Elinor Ostrom studied several cases in different parts of the world where natural resources like groundwater, irrigation systems and forests are locally managed. In 1992, for instance, she undertook a ground-breaking study in Nepal to examine the country’s irrigation systems. About 60% of the irrigated land in Nepal is watered by farmer-managed irrigation systems. Based on her studies, she explained that farmer-managed systems are superior to government-managed ones. While those systems yielded an agricultural productivity of 10 metric tonnes a year per hectare, the irrigation systems managed by external agencies yielded just half that amount. “Farmer-managed irrigation systems are more effective in terms of higher productivity and lower cost, than the fancy irrigation systems built with the help of the Asian Development Bank, World Bank and USAID, among others,” she wrote. Clearly, considering the problems India faces in managing its natural resources, there is much to learn from Ostrom’s work.