MAHARASHTRA, India (Reuters) — A laborer from the lower-caste Dalit community dug up a well after being denied permission to draw water from the well of an upper caste man in India’s western Maharashtra state.
India is reeling under excruciating summers. Maharashtra is one of the worst hit states in the country which is facing its third straight drought this year.
Amid the severe water crisis, when people from the lower-caste community in Nagpur district went to fetch water from nearby areas, they were denied any access.
A laborer, Bapurao Tajne, on Monday (May 9) said he completed the digging in 40 days after which, people from nearby areas, including the upper caste, came to fetch water from his well.
“A man (of higher-caste) refused to give us water. I was extremely angry. Then, I started digging the well with all kinds of tools. Water in the well was available after around one month, 10 days. And, people who were laughing at us are now coming here to fetch water from our well,” said Tajne.
Villagers expressed their delight on seeing water in the newly-constructed well.
“We were facing acute water shortage. Nobody gave us water. Then, we went to a nearby place to fetch water. There, a man threw away our vessels and we had to return home without water. Then, this man started digging a well and then we got water. Now everyone takes water from our well,” said Sangeeta, a local villager.
Activists involved in water conservation say Maharashtra’s impending water crisis became clear when last year’s monsoon failed. The state took no early action to curb supplies to water-intensive industries like beer or sugar.
India has witnessed two straight years of drought, the fourth time in over a century.
According to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), the country’s rainfall was 14 per cent lower than normal in the June-September monsoon season in 2015. In some regions, the rainfall deficit during the season was as high as 47 per cent.
