Cast(e) Iron

Rajasthan's electoral discourse has always been about the twin phenomena of caste and community politics. This election is no different

- Shreya Basak

KENKU, 50, hurries back to her hut after drawing about eight buckets of water. While she was drawing the precious liquid from the depths of the heated bowels of Rajasthan's dry earth, six other women had kept her company, vigorously drawing their own share of water.

Kenku rushes back to apply ointment over the burnt skin of her neighbour's son. The little boy, who constantly cries in pain, has sustained severe burns after a pot of boiling milk fell on his right leg.

His mother is probably kilometres away, working at a construction site. Medical facilities are scarce, which has worsened the wound. Water is scarce too, forcing Kenku to ration the quantity of water she can use to regularly clean the wound.

In Ramdev Nagar village in western Barmer, water is a precious commodity carefully utilised for drinking, cooking and feeding cattle, but seldom for cleaning and washing.

In the Sheo constituency's Thar desert pocket, Ramdev Nagar, located in Rohidaala gram panchayat, showcases the severe water crisis afflicting Rajasthan's more densely populated pockets.

Desperate cries for water begin before the break of dawn and continue till noon. Groups of women in and around villages, to date, walk for hours to fetch water.

The bedis (borewell) built by the government dry up in summer. The tanka constructed for holding rainwater are often caked with silt deposits, which make water unpalatable in the hot season, when the tank runs shallow.

The big tanks, built at a few kilometres' distance, often run dry as authorities fail to replenish them. Reverse Osmosis machines with instructive government slogans on the importance of water, lie locked up in a state of disuse. Walking to the neighbouring village-dominated by upper-castes-for water, too poses another set of caste-oriented challenges.