How water crisis affects the powerless

The fight for access to water resources continues today across India.

Almost 100 years ago around 3,000 Dalits, or "untouchables", dared to drink from a public water tank in Mahad, Maharashtra, that was forbidden to them. The Mahad Satyagraha—referred to as India's first civil rights movement—was led by noted lawyer, social reformer, and Dalit leader BR Ambedkar who then took on the upper-caste people of the area who claimed the tank was private property. The ensuing legal battle lasted a decade. Dr Ambedkar won the case.