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Untouchability and Public Infrastructure

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Abstract

Caste rules prohibit the sharing of water between castes as a contact made by an untouchable with water ritually taints the source. Despite untouchability practices being outlawed by the Constitution of India, they are still vigorous and violently enforced. This is what is investigated in this article. The aim is to evidence a relationship between the number of acts of violence against untouchables and the way water is distributed. Our results show that, the more individual the source, the less scope there is for potential ritual pollution and hence, the lower the number of violent acts against untouchables. This is the first analysis, to the best of our knowledge, that quantifies and evidences the enforcement of untouchability rules with regard to water distribution. This paper underlines that water improvement programs have the nice side effect of alleviating caste based violence on top of improving sanitation

Suggested Citation

  • Catherine Bros & Mathieu Couttenier, 2010. "Untouchability and Public Infrastructure," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 10074, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    • Handle: RePEc:mse:cesdoc:10074
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    Cited by:

    1. Sharma, Smriti, 2015. "Caste-based crimes and economic status: Evidence from India," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 204-226.
    2. Vani Kant Borooah & Anirudh Tagat & Vinod Mishra, 2019. "Conflict, caste and resolution: a quantitative analysis for Indian villages," Indian Growth and Development Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 13(2), pages 319-338, October.
    3. Hoff, Karla & Pandey, Priyanka, 2012. "Making up people -- the effect of identity on preferences and performance in a modernizing society," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6223, The World Bank.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Castes; India; water distribution;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • H4 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods

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