Glossary 

THEME E1

Adivasis: indigenous people of India, a substantial minority.

caste: a system dividing Hindu society into hereditary classes.

dam: a wall built across a river which stops the river’s flow and collects the water.

deprivation: when you do not have things or conditions that are usually considered necessary for a pleasant life.

famine: when there is not enough food for a great number of people.

freshwater: water that is not salty.

ground water: underground water that is held in the soil and rocks.

income: money that is earned from doing work or received from investments.

monsoon: the season of heavy rain during the summer in hot Asian countries.

profit: the benefit or advantage that can be achieved by a particular action or activity.

scarcity: when something is not easy to find or obtain.

shortage: when there is not enough of something.

thirst: a need for something to drink.

to advocate: to publicly support or suggest an idea, development or way of doing something.

to benefit: to be helped by something or to help someone.

to dehydrate: to (cause to) lose water.

to discriminate: to treat a person or particular group of people differently, especially in a worse way from the way in which you treat other people, because of their skin colour, religion, sex, etc.

to dispossess: to take property, especially buildings or land, away from someone or a group of people.

to irrigate: to supply land with water so that crops and plants will grow.

to resettle: to (be helped or forced to) move to another place to live.

to retain: to keep or continue to have something.

well: a deep hole in the ground from which water, oil or gas can be obtained.