Caste-based water exclusion persists in villages decades after independence.

Evidence

The caste Hindus of Mahad prevent the untouchables from drinking the water of the Chavadar Lake not because they suppose that the touch of the Untouchables will pollute the water or that it will evaporate and vanish. Their reason for preventing the Untouchables from drinking it is that they do not wish to acknowledge by such permission that castes declared inferior by sacred tradition are in fact their equals. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 327 (#contradicts, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Caste-based water exclusion persists in post-independence India; Caste exclusion stemmed from refusal to grant equality, not literal pollution — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 327; Dalit families were denied land, water, and infrastructure by dominant castes

Related

• Caste exclusion stemmed from refusal to grant equality, not literal pollution (similarity 0.91)
• Untouchability practices persist in over 97 percent of surveyed Gujarat villages (similarity 0.82)
• The tank protest was a symbolic assertion of equality, not a practical need (similarity 0.82)
• Village authorities denied a Dalit woman basic utilities and water. (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Caste-based water exclusion persists in post-independence India #corroborates (0.95)
• Dalit families were denied land, water, and infrastructure by dominant castes #expands (0.70)
• Caste exclusion stemmed from refusal to grant equality, not literal pollution #contradicts (0.60) — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 327