Caste, Class and the Power of Water: The Socio-Political Ecology of Drinking Water in Rural India
Published: May 15, 2020
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.
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