‘Annihilation of Caste’ and the Struggle for Water Equality

The journey of the struggle for water equality in India started since a century ago when the resources were distributed based on Caste.

So, let us assess how the struggle has converted to a ‘political issue’ and then a ‘right’, which still influences peoples’ life.

Background:

• The most organized of the movements occurred in Mahadin 1927. A group led by B.R. Ambedkar tried to gain the right to draw water from a tank in the town.
• The movement lost but the matter went to court, where a judge decreed that the tank was ‘public property’.
  • Since then, Ambedkar’s participation marked a departure in political history.

Positive outcomes which led to Equality:

• Between the two judgments of 1914 about Mochi and 1931 about Mahad — case law had established an important principle: A source belonging to a public body (in the 1914 case a temple) was a ‘public good’.
• Together these incidents succeeded in making the struggle for equality a political issue.
• The events of 1927, about Mahad, marked a significant departure in Dalit politicsand inaugurated urban-centered regional associational forms.
• The year after the Mahad judgment, Gandhi’s All India Anti-untouchability League was formed.

The journey towards legality:

• At the time of Indian independence, Dalit activists began calling for separate electorates for untouchables in India to allow fair representation.
• Officially labeled the Minorities Act, to guarantee representation for Sikhs, Muslims, Christians, and Untouchables in the newly formed Indian government.
• The Act was supported by British representatives such as Ramsay MacDonald.
• In 1932, Ambedkar proposed that the untouchables create a separate electorate which ultimately led Gandhi to fast until it was rejected.
• National leaders such as Gandhi opposed a separation within Hindu society at the time, although he took no exception to the demands of the other minorities.
• The 1950 national constitution of Indialegally abolished the practice of untouchability. It provided measures for affirmative action in both educational institutions and public services for Dalits and other social groups who lie within the caste system.
• These are supplemented by official bodies such as the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.