Opinion Caste and access to water: The missing link

In August 2022, Indra Meghwal, a Dalit student from Surana village of Rajasthan’s Jalore district, was beaten to death by his teacher reportedly for merely touching a drinking water pot. A similar death of a Dalit man occurred in Rajasthan’s Jodhpur district in November 2022 — Kishanlal Bheel was thrashed for drawing water from a tubewell.

While the Jal Jeevan Mission promotes “Har Ghar Jal” and promises drinking water security to every rural household, such incidents point out that government schemes at large that speak of ‘universal’ access neither consider nor actively try to counter the effects of the social structure of the caste system in India.

Let us consider this 2015 study, “Untouchability, homicides and water access,” published in the Journal of Comparative Economics, which states the problem clearly: “the higher the probability that higher castes meet…members of Scheduled Castes or of Scheduled Tribes at a water source that leaves room for ritual pollution, the greater the murder rate of SCs and STs”. This fatal link between caste and water is profoundly troubling and makes access to basic needs difficult for those already on the margins.

The empirical evidence is available, and the incidents are frequent even in the media. The question then arises: how are government schemes like the Jal Jeevan Mission addressing the likelihood and the reality of such incidents in their policies? Research has demonstrated that caste segregation remains a significant barrier to public goods, including access to water.

I have worked as a technical assistant at a Jal Jeevan Mission academic centre for the past few months. Despite the intimate linkages between caste and water, the caste question is never explicitly considered. While the Mission strives for “ease of living” for rural communities — given how the lack of water is tied to the lack of women’s participation in income-generation opportunities, major health issues, and the inability of girls to go to school — it makes no provisions for how caste too shatters access to water, let alone outline redressal for incidents of violence against Dalits.

This is rooted in the governance structure of the Mission itself. According to the Mission guidelines, a Gram Panchayat of a village should have a sub-committee or Village Water and Sanitation Committee (VWSC) comprising 25% of elected members of the panchayat from weaker sections of the village (SC/ST) proportional to the SC/ST population of the village. However, there are no clear roles and responsibilities allotted in either the JJM Mission guidelines or the “Margdarshika for Gram Panchayat” for the SC/ST members of the VWSC, which raises the question of effectiveness of the representation of Dalits in the Mission.

My field observations during the last three months in villages of Karnataka reveal that members of VWSC are not aware of their responsibilities or membership, which then raises the question: If upper-caste members are not aware of their roles and responsibilities in the VWSC, how can SC/ST representatives of the VWSC address the problems of access of water faced by a community with no “power” in the VWSC?

Water-related hazards also affect the Dalit community. The New Humanitarian found that during droughts and flood-related relief work, caste discrimination persisted when it came to rehabilitation and support of those affected, more recently in Odisha and Kerala.

The Mission may have helped several Dalit households in villages across the country get piped water supply, which is commendable. Yet, constant deaths and violent attacks on Dalits, specifically around access to water, means that the Mission must address them directly. Otherwise, even this newly expanded access to water will leave voids and consequences for Dalit households.

These voids then affect all parts of the Mission. The JJM also attempts to build a “sense of ownership” through community engagement for the programme’s successful planning, implementation, operation, and maintenance. Can such participation be meaningful if the Mission does not address caste-based violence? On November 18, 2022, a public water tank in Karnataka was cleaned with cow urine after a Dalit woman drank from its tap. What can ‘ownership’ of a Mission look like if such incidents occur and are not addressed?

A research study by the National Dalit Watch titled, “Droughts, Dalits and Adivasis”, in September 2022 surveyed Marathwada’s 2,207 Dalits and Adivasis of 10 villages of Osmanabad and Kallam blocks. The study found that 72% did not have adequate water for drinking and hygiene, while 56% SCs and 48% STs reported experiencing untouchability.

Moreover, these “missing links” are not even new. Historical evidence shows the century-long struggle of Dalits for “access to water”. The “Mahad Satyagraha”, a historical movement led by Dr B R Ambedkar in March 1927 to assert the rights of more than 2,500 untouchables to use public water tanks, flips the question of “how far things have changed for Dalits” when it comes to access to water. A recent incident from Tamil Nadu’s Vengaivayal village — of dumping of human excrement in the water tank of Dalits — was discovered, along with untouchability practices.

Unfortunately, the “water-caste nexus” remains unaddressed and is a significant missing link in government policies, which must offer separate provisions for Dalits to have safe access to water. Any policy without these provisions shall remain “untouched” by “Dalits”.

The writer is an independent researcher. Suraj Yengde, author of Caste Matters, curates Dalitality. He is currently at Oxford University