RAJINDER SINGH, India's river man, is distressed at the state of the rivers and demands a quick solution I AM NOT THRILLED IN THE LEAST to share my observation that the rivers running through the most developed regions of the country are the most polluted. Smaller towns have not been spared either: the Luni River in Balmer district of Rajasthan, is on the brink of death. The water crisis has worsened in the last 20 years; in fact, the current trend could leave us waterless in a decade. Pollution has eaten into surface water and subsurface and deep underground water has fallen prey to our exploitative ways, a legacy of our colonial past. Real estate development has encroached into the rivers, wrecked the riverbeds and each of us done our bit to pollute them. Faced with this set of problems, decentralised water management with the active participation of users has met with success in some areas, but, to rein in real estate developers, the government too needs to do more. Delhi is the worst hit. When it runs out of water, where are its multitudes going to head? Rs 17,000 crore flowed down the Yamuna last year, but the water is yet to flow. It could be back to its glorious past in five years but first, the people in this city need to rediscover the cords that once bound them to nature, learn to give back to nature what they take from it. This calls