Water Wives-the Scarcity Effect

  Dr. Shobhana Singh-Assistant Professor

                                                                                                                   

Water Wives-the Scarcity Effect

Polygamy is illegal in India for non-Muslim people under Hindu Marriage Act, but in drought stricken region like Denganmal in Maharashtra, men are getting married multiple times. Maharashtra has a history of droughts, during 1970-79; 1980-1989; 1990-1999; 2000-2010; etc. due to which state has reported the highest number of farmer’s suicides in the country. Polygamy is very common in the Denganmal village, an area in which safe drinking water is so scarce that men take on additional “water wives” to fetch it. It’s so time consuming and inconvenient to get water in such drought affected regions that men have taken to marrying two to three additional women just to make the trek to and from wells. These “water wives” are often single mothers or widows wishing to “regain respect” in their communities. These “water wives” usually do not share the marital bed and often live in separate apartments but their labor is essential to their husbands and must walk through hot temperatures and sticky humidity to communal wells, where they have to wait for hours to fill their pitchers. Sakharam Bhagat from Dengamal, is a day labourer on a farm and is one of those men who has married more than one wife to solve this water crisis. Bhagat,66, now has three wives, two of whom he married solely to ensure that his household has water to drink and cook. Bhagat says,

"My first wife was busy with the kids. When my second wife fell sick and was unable to fetch water, I married a third."

Monsoons are not only a weather system in countries like India but also “lifeline”, especially in areas without access to water. Monsoons provide as much as 80 percent of the country’s annual rainfall that is why it is called the “real finance minister.” Rainfall plays a very crucial role in accelerating our economic growth, GDP etc. but imagine what happens if our land receives very low rainfall? Would these “water wives” trend will continue as a “new emerging trend” in drought declared areas like Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Karnatka. We know that Bhagat and his family are suffering the consequences of a critical shortage of safe drinking water but what about these “doubly marginalized” water wives who are hired as labourers for fetching water from a long distance and face hot sun only? They don’t get love, respect and significant place in their family and are facing “identity crisis”. Today it seems that history is repeating itself, as we know that centuries ago women had no honorable and dignified lives. In countries like Britain, Russia, New Zealand, Australia etc. women had not right to vote and also could not own property, which were conferred to them later. So we can better estimate the pathetic condition of women in our country. At this moment, I recall a famous quote of a famous feminist Simon De Beauvoir,

                  “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman”. (The Second Sex).

 But what is the way forward to this particular problem? I think only our government; our society and women themselves should take proper measures towards this problem. Nowadays, we see government is working on river linking projects but still many more projects are required in drought prone areas and there should be focus on 100% achievement of “Har Ghar Jal” scheme by 2024. Not only government but also the society should come forward to resolve this issue. We should not treat women as labourers, but give them love and respect that’s what every human need. And last but not the least, a woman herself have to fight against this age old tradition of patriarchal society and stop being the victim of that as Nora Ephron well said,

                                  “Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.”