Adivasis Water Exchange and Caste-Based Water Lords: A case of groundwater market in a village of Gujarat, India

Even though the issues of discrimination and untouchability are largely attributed to Dalits based on the caste hierarchy, contemporary incidents and ‘developments’ around us reveal that Adivasis are also equally subjected to these unethical practices of exclusion. In one of the micro-level studies, as observed by Farhat Naz, drinking water is used as a toolto reproduce untouchability practices and discrimination against Adivasis in a village in Sabarkantha district, Gujarat. The rules pertaining to access of drinking water are clearly defined through caste hierarchy, regulated by concepts of ‘pollution and purity’. Thakores and Jadejas, who form the upper-caste population in the village, do not buy drinking water from Adivasi water-sellers. Discrimination against Adivasis is practiced at every level and has even been ruthlessly ‘polished’ in the idiom of modern-development culture.