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Synopsis The book examines the interaction of nature and society through the lens of groundwater development. It explores how nature shapes trajectories of change in agrarian societies and, in turn, how communities respond to changes in the natural resource base on which they depend. The author argues that dependence on groundwater structurally influences the direction of agrarian change, and moulds the economic fortunes of farmers and communities in locally specific ways. He examines the role of the state, of class structures, and caste relation in determining the outcomes of struggles for, access to, and control over, water. Dubash maintains that though societies develop new institutions to address problems of groundwater depletion, these institutions are neither homogenous nor equally beneficial to all. The work is based on detailed empirical work in two villages of North Gujarat. It closely examines one new institutional form – markets for groundwater. Drawing on agrarian political economy and new institutional economics, it suggests that institutions of agrarian exchange are best understood through an examination of economic functions, social norms and the exercise of power. This volume provides an in-depth analysis of agrarian change and agrarian institutions that will interest ecologists, sociologists, geographers, economists, environmental scholars, and students pf peasant societies. It also provides a timely window on issues of groundwater use at the local level that will be of relevance to water resources specialists, policy-makers, development experts, and those working at the grassroots.