The book is about India’s ‘water warrior’ Vilasrao Salunke and his community-based water model which has been implemented in villages across Maharashtra. It deals with use of Salunkhe’s model by Anna Hazare to transform Ralegan Siddhi from a dry village to a model village—a transformation that has become an integral part of the alternative development discourse. Salunkhe’s ‘pani panchayat’ model of water management allows for sharing water equitably. The volume examines how the model can lead to ecological regeneration of common lands in micro-watersheds to augment water in rural areas. It argues that the approach clearly obviates the need for mega-multipurpose projects which have been proved to be non-viable.