Dalits Deprived of Clean Water
August 2, 2006
Prejudice Against Dalits Confirms Need for ‘Jesus Wells’
Approximately one-sixth of the world’s population—more than one billion people—does not have access to safe drinking water. The World Bank estimates that in India, 21 percent of communicable diseases are related to unsafe water.
These problems are especially severe for India’s nearly 300 million Dalits. These “Untouchables” are often denied access to clean water because of 3,000-year-old beliefs that Dalits are a contamination to higher castes.
These problems are especially pronounced during the summer months, when water supplies ebb. Two recent incidents in Rajasthan—an Indian state with vast deserts—highlight the Dalits’ plight.
“Water has again revealed the caste divide in Rajasthan,” says a July 9 news article in The Asia Age. “Upper caste Hindus in Jaipur district prevented Dalits from taking water from a government tanker.”
Government officials sent the water tanker to a village where the local well had dried up in the summer heat. But when the vehicle arrived, local Dalit residents were told that the 150 upper-caste families had the right to water first. Only if the supply lasted could the 18 Dalit families take water.
When Dalit families opposed this discrimination, they were beaten away with large sticks.
“We have no way to quench our thirst as there is no source of water in the village,” one Dalit man is quoted as saying.
In a separate incident, members of the upper caste opposed the government-sanctioned drilling of a well in a Dalit community in Bundi district of Rajasthan.
“The Dalits are not allowed to fetch water from the hand pumps and tube wells of the upper-caste,” states a June 15 news release on The Hindustan Times website.
“[Instead they] rely on the only hand pump in their basti [slum settlement], which is insufficient for meeting their demands during peak summer.”
A private contractor authorized by the government’s Health and Engineering Department was sent to drill a well in the Dalit community. But he faced opposition from the upper castes of the village and was forced to leave.
“The tube well would have reduced untouchability,” stated one source, “as people of the upper castes could have fetched water from this tube well in times of water crisis.”
In contrast, Gospel for Asia is successfully drilling hundreds of “Jesus Wells” in Rajasthan and other needy regions of the Indian subcontinent. The wells, usually drilled near churches or Bridge of Hope centers, are open to all, regardless of religion or caste.
“Having a well here actually serves to bring all villagers together,” said a GFA native missionary who pastors a church in another district of Rajasthan.
“After the well was drilled, even those who were not friendly to us came to draw water. It’s like we have broken that barrier because of the well.”