Geography of Vulnerability

  • Urban migration to escape rural caste stigma forces Dalits into low-lying, flood-prone informal settlements
  • State-sponsored resettlement often pushes them into remote marshlands — ghettoisation
  • 71% of Dalits are landless labourers — land-based government disaster compensation entirely bypasses them (“No land = No compensation”)

Impact

  • Post-disaster debt traps are severe
  • After 2018 Kerala floods, nearly 80% of girls in affected slums dropped out of school
  • Relief camp discrimination further exacerbates suffering

Way Forward

  • Implement caste-sensitive disaster planning (social vulnerability mapping)
  • Shift from remote resettlement to in-situ slum upgrading
  • Ensure financial inclusion: targeted disaster credit for landless labourers

UPSC Angle

  • GS1: Society, social stratification, urbanisation
  • GS3: Disaster management, climate change

📌 Facts Corner — Knowledgepedia

Caste & Climate Nexus:

  • Dalit landless labourers: 71%
  • 2018 Kerala floods: 80% girls in affected slums dropped out of school
  • Key issue: land-based compensation excludes landless
  • Solution: caste-sensitive disaster planning, in-situ upgrading