This book is about the politics of development in rural India. Its key aim is to explain development governance (distribution and control of resources and power) in rural Rajasthan, the driest and the largest province in India. I address this issue by examining recent initiatives by an array of state, non-state and transnational actors to increase the availability of water, food, fuelwood and fodder through soil and water conservation or ‘watershed development’ in Rajasthani villages. 1 ‘Watershed Development’ is a term used by rural development experts to describe technical approaches to check water and soil erosion in rain-fed areas in order to increase the productivity of land, and to meet the local requirements of food, fodder and fuelwood. This includes treatment of both arable and non-arable lands in a given watershed area through a wide range of physical activities, such as drainage line treatment by building a series of loose stone check dams and other structures to prevent water and soil erosion, farm bunding, construction of small water harvesting structures or development of pasture lands.