Gujarat has done well to share Narmada's water with Rajasthan, and 300 cusecs reached this State on Thursday. The water comes from Sardar Sarovar Dam in central Gujarat, passing through a 74 km canal and its tributaries, bringing relief to the worst drought-affected areas of Barmer and Jalore districts where people have to walk several kilometres before they can access water. The canal will benefit at least 4.5 million people who live in these two districts of western Rajasthan. The project has been completed despite much controversy and agitation by those opposed to it ostensibly on environmental and humanitarian grounds but in reality promoting an anti-development agenda, led by Ms Medha Patkar's Narmada Bachao Andolan. Litigation by the NBA had the effect of delaying the project. Yet the project's success and the joy of the people at receiving much-needed water belie the fuss that the NBA and others made. There is a lesson in this for those who instinctively cavil against large-scale projects such as dams that can solve the country's energy and water problems. Such projects are needlessly held hostage by considerations other than that of development. The project also shows how the problem of water shortage and drought could have been mitigated had the NDA Government's river-linking scheme been implemented. In any case, Rajasthan's Chief Minister, Ms Vasundhara Raje, can justly be proud about this canal for she has come through on an electoral promise made in 2003. Similarly, the completion of the canal is another feather in the cap of Gujarat's Chief Minster, Mr Narendra Modi, who has kept his promise to Rajasthan and ensured the supply of water. Seen against the backdrop of riparian States refusing to share water with their neighbours, the Narmada canal showcases what can be achieved through cooperation by State Governments on the complex issue of river-water sharing if they are able to rise above narrow regional considerations to embrace a larger national perspective. It would be churlish to suggest that Gujarat has agreed to share Narmada's water with Rajasthan because the BJP rules both the States. But for Mr Modi's farsight and Ms Raje's leadership, this would not have been possible. The example they have set for other Chief Ministers deserves to be lauded. It is not that there have never been differences between Gujarat and Rajasthan over sharing river water. Yet the two States have amicably accepted the rulings of the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal and have thereafter cooperated in these matters. This is so much unlike the situation elsewhere in the country where inter-States water disputes have been marked by pettiness apart from violence. Leaders in these States have played to the galleries by pandering to parochial chauvinism. The classic instance is that of the Kaveri river water dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The leaders of these States would do well to take a leaf out of Mr Modi's book of governance and take lessons from him in co-operation.