India, April 20 -- India's irrigation story has long been told through large dams and canal networks. For decades, policy has focused on expanding major and medium irrigation projects to create irrigation potential. Yet, much of this discourse has treated large infrastructure and decentralised water systems as separate domains. The real question today is no longer how much we build, but how effectively water reaches farms, interacts with local water systems, and ultimately sustains livelihoods. Recent field-based assessments across irrigation command and adjoining non-command areas point to a more complex reality. While large irrigation projects do create potential, their benefits are unevenly distributed and often extend beyond officiall...