Hiware Bazar rose from the proverbial ashes to become a model for the rest of India: an economically strong and socially conscious village. The transformation was no less than a miracle given the heavy dependence people seem to have on 'external' governance structures. (This despite a long history of decentralized resource management in the country.) The village has also excelled at constantly re-inventing itself to fit the needs of the times without compromising on its integrity and well-being. Be it community-based management or adoption of new techniques like renewables or even introduction of fresh ideas like the borewell blasting technique to store groundwater in hard rock areas, the village lights the way for many.

A strong message in the Hiware case is decentralized resource management through decentralization of power (to an extent). The model has proven to be easy in principal but difficult to replicate in practice. What does this mean for resource management in the context of policy and present day scenarios (climate change, resource chains, globalization, etc.)?

Read more about Hiware at http://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/node/754.