Dalits, Water And Discrimination
Abstract
This article examines the discrimination Dalits faces in India in accessing water for drinking, sanitation and agriculture. Ambedkar launched Mahad Sathyagraha to challenge the monopoly of upper caste over a pond. Constitution of India declared water as fundamental right. Yet, even a preliminary examination of the access of water to Dalits informs that Indian upper caste/caste Hindus have hardly changed in their attitude. For water, Dalits either have to fight or face violence and if not be at the mercy of non-Dalits.
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A. M. Shah, Purity, ‘Impurity and Untouchability: Then and Now’, Sociological Bulletin, Vol. 56, N0. 3, 2007, p. 356.
Ibid, p. 355.
D. R. Ambedkar, Annihilation of Caste, Introduced by Arundhati Roy, Navayana, New Delhi, 2015, p. 107.
Ibid, pp. 107-108.
Article 15 says that the state should not discriminate against any citizen on the ground only of religion, race, caste, sex and place of birth of any of them and the clause (2) and sub clause (b) say that it is the state responsibility to ensure the access to the use of wells, tanks, bath ghats, roads and places of public resort maintained wholly or partly out of state funds or dedicated to the use of general public.
Ibid, p. 100.
There is vast difference between the North and South. The North is conservative. The South is progressive. The North is superstitious, the South is rational. The South is educationally forward, The North is educationally backward. The culture of the South is modern. The culture of the North is ancient, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, ‘North versus South’, DR. Babasahed Ambedkar Speeches and Writings, Vol. I, p. 149.
N. Vinodth Kumar, How a Village Girl Won Hearts of Dalits in Her Constituency, https://thefederal.com/elections-2019/how-a-village-girl-won-the-hearts-of-dalits-in-her- constituency/
K. K. Shahina, The Strome that Stirred the Caste Cauldron, https://openthemagazine.com/features/india/the-storm-that-stirred-a-caste-cauldron/
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