There is a hand pump barely 100 metres from Dashrath Musahar’s home. All day long the creak of the handle as water is pumped can be heard as women wash themselves and their clothes.
But the state-installed hand pump in Wornar village is out of bounds for the family of Dashrath. As Musahars – members of a Dalit community – accessing water from the village pump here in Palamu, is quite simply, not an option.
“Haman ke gari dewale, kahale na ki kahi aur se panio baro [They hurl abuses and tell us to get water from somewhere else],” said Dashrath Musahar. Their vessels are flung away, he adds.
Ramavtar Chaudhary’s house is adjacent to the handpump. “They are refused because they don't maintain cleanliness. Would anyone drink that kind of water?” he answers when this reporter asks about the open discrimination against Musahar Dalits who account for almost a third of the 2,749 people living here (Census 2011).








