This paper explores the intertwined crises of water scarcity and health among indigenous communities in the Rajmahal Hills, located in the mineral-rich Chotanagpur Plateau. While local health practitioners attribute endemic diseases like cholera, typhoid, and jaundice to poor hygiene and seasonal water shortages, indigenous narratives reveal deeper structural causes. Indigenous communities link their deteriorating health to the historical and ongoing over-extraction of land and water resources. Colonial interventions in the 1830s, including the enclosure of the Damin-i-koh estates and the displacement of Pahariya communities, disrupted traditional water management systems. Subsequent agricultural expansion, dam construction, and mining activities further depleted groundwater reserves and contaminated surface water sources.
State responses, such as the installation of tube wells and distribution of water tanks by mining companies, have created a bureaucratic water regime marked by unreliability and 'unhealthy dependency'. This paper argues that the subterranean stratum—altered by geological violence—is a hidden frontier of climate change and health. Drawing on oral histories and lived experiences, it challenges epidemiological models that treat water solely as a disease vector. Instead, it proposes a reorientation of the sociology of health to the changing forms of the planet. By foregrounding indigenous knowledge and resilience in arid landscapes, the paper calls for a more grounded understanding of health in the context of environmental degradation and extractive economies.
Location
6th Floor, Copland Building
About the speaker
Dr Ipshita Basu
I am a political anthropologist whose research investigates state-society relations in ecologically degraded and climate-vulnerable regions. My work explores how communities navigate health, wellbeing, and political recognition amid long-term impact of environmental and socio-political upheaval. I am the author of Reclaiming Indigeneity and Democracy in India's Jharkhand (Oxford University Press, 2024), and co-editor of Politics and Governance in Bangladesh: Uncertain Landscapes (Routledge, 2018).
My research is interdisciplinary, bridging political anthropology, environmental history, and development studies. I have received funding from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), the British Academy, and the Quintin Hogg Trust to examine how legacies of environmental and political regimes shape experiences of health, illness, and healing. This work also investigates claims for political recognition and seeks to amplify indigenous perspectives on planetary health. I hold a PhD in International Developemnt from University of Bath. and M.A. in Sociology from University of Warwick. I have worked at BRAC University, Dhaka (2010-2012), University of Surrey (2012-2015) and currently based at University of Westminster (2015-) where I am Reader in Global Development and Politics.
