Caste, Class and the Power of Water: The Socio-Political Ecology of Drinking Water in Rural India

Published: May 15, 2020

CASTE AND CLASS
Caste, Class and the Power of Water: The Socio-Political Ecology of  Drinking Water in Rural India

Photo courtesy: Author

The pressure on hand pumps located in Dalit, Muslim and poor backward class localities is greater compared to hand pumps in other localities in the village of Kushmha in Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh. 

Abstract: The narrative of a village in Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh finds that caste and class hierarchies effectively influence the decision making on water allocation, use, and control over drinking water. In the village, it is found that manipulating the given unequal ecology of water, the spatial arrangement of hand pumps and technology is used to control the distribution and allocation of available drinking water—thus making it accessible to some at the cost of others.

The author is a doctoral researcher at Center for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. sonalibhatia2@gmail.com. The article should be cited as Bhatia S. 2020. Caste, Class and the Power of Water: The Socio-Political Ecology of Drinking Water in Rural India, Geography and You,(4-5): 66-72