Caste discrimination in disaster situations in India - Reports by National Dalit Watch

The National Dalit Watch (NDW), an effort spearheaded by the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights has prepared a number of  reports on rampant caste discrimination and the urgent need for protection of human rights, particularly Dalit human rights during disaster situations. 

Dalits in disasters – The forsaken ones

Video courtesy: Lee Macqueen, National Dalit Watch-National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights

National Dalit Watch – National Campaign of Dalit Human Rights

National Dalit Watch (NDW) is an initiative of  National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR) and was created in 2007 to monitor caste discrimination in disaster situations particularly in the light of the experiences during the 2004 tsunami and the 2007 Kosi floods in Bihar. The NDW is of the view that it is highly imperative to have state accountability during disasters; accountability that takes cognizance of basic structural and causative reasons for exclusion and discrimination during disasters. Only this recognition can lead to concerted and relevant action to counter this aspect of denial of the basic rights of Dalit citizens.

NDW examines the deficiencies in the existing policy and disaster response or preparedness regime to make an impact. Focused endeavors are on for achieving equitable policies through policy advocacy at all levels.

Discrimination by default

A series of disasters, including the Gujarat earthquake (2001), tsunami (2004), Bihar floods (2007 and 2008), Assam floods over several years (particularly 2009), Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka (2009) have highlighted the degree to which, by virtue of their inherent socio-economic vulnerability, Dalits have been systematically excluded from relief and rehabilitation efforts. In a caste-ridden society and polity as in India, discrimination in disaster response is highly predictable; discrimination happens by default. NDW strives to identify, expose and eliminate such form of discrimination by default.

‘Discrimination by default’ is as much an issue as discrimination by norm and intent and is prevalent both within civil society and administration. Even in cases where there is no intentional bias against Dalit communities, the lack of knowledge about their vulnerabilities, not mapping these communities in the context of the disaster and prevalent norms of operations result in the administration not taking the cause of Dalit and other marginalized communities in times of disaster. Often this is also co-existent and accentuated with the overt and covert dominant community bias and pressures.

NDW has shared some of its reports with the Portal based on comprehensive studies and visits to the affected regions -

A preliminary assessment of caste discrimination in Cyclone Thane in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry - NDW-NCDHR (2012)

This study based on a visit to three representative villages in Pondicherry and in the districts of Cuddalore and Villipuram in Tamil Nadu following the Cyclone Thane indicates that disaster has triggered violence along already existing caste fault-lines. Scarcity of resources during natural disasters exacerbated the caste fault lines particularly with respect to access to relief. Part of the fault is located in not taking into consideration existing strong caste hegemonies in disaster preparedness and mitigation.

Across the board in Cyclone Thane it appears that already vulnerable and marginalised communities were rendered more vulnerable as a result of the natural disaster. Both in Palur and Sathamangalam, this vulnerability has also resulted in overt violence. In the case of Palur, the violence seems to be also directly connected to resentment of political assertion by the Dalit communities.

Further, in both the cases the police have acted with impunity both in refusal to entertain complaints from the Dalit communities and in their response to the complaint. Even where the district and police administration have acknowledged the mistake on the part of the police officials on duty, no action has been contemplated or taken against the errant officials. Despite the gravity and tense nature of the situation the local media also seems to have ignored the violence though it had been brought to their notice.

Exclusion of Dalits in the flood rehabilitation in Bijapur district, Karnataka (2010)

Almost five months after the devastation caused by 2009 floods in Karnataka, a joint study was undertaken by National Dalit Watch and Human Rights Forum for Dalit Liberation, a Bangalore based NGO, in March 2010. Compensation has been the major aspect of the flood relief management criticized to a great extent by the respondents. Although people of all castes have expressed dissatisfaction over the measly compensation distributed for house damage and crop loss; once again, the Dalit population has been at the receiving end, thanks to the brazen discrimination. The main reasons behind the dissatisfaction among the survivors was found to be the lack of proper survey of Dalit colonies, lack of scientific and professional assessment of the damage caused by the floods, and of course, large-scale corruption especially at the local level.

For a morsel of life! - A ‘Dalit Watch’ report on the flood relief camps in Bihar (2008)

This study is based on monitoring of 205 relief camps located in the districts of Supaul, Saharsa, Madhepura, Araria and Purnea after the devastating flood caused by a breach in the embankment of Kosi River near the Indo‐Nepal border (at a place called Kusaha in Nepal) that resulted in one of the worst floods in the history of Bihar in August 2008. The study indicates an alarming level of shortfall in the arrangements towards delivery of critical relief aid across most of the monitored sites, particularly in Madhepura district. Based on this it makes recommendations to improve the overall quality of the relief processes to ensure greater accessibility for Dalit communities in particular.

Making things worse – How ‘caste blindness’ in Indian post tsunami disaster recovery has exacerbated vulnerability and exclusion (2007)

Discrimination on the basis of caste in the aftermath of the tsunami is an unquestionable fact as per the study.  The testimonies of Dalit victims of the tsunami all along the Indian coast of Tamil Nadu show remarkable consistency, pointing to a systematic and predictable type of discrimination. These testimonies are backed up by previously published reports by NGOs, a major national public hearing, reports by Indian journalists, and dozens of interviews with the various stakeholders conducted during the course of this research. The discrimination was present at all phases of the recovery process, from the denial of rice, the refusal to share emergency shelters, the removal of bodies, and the relief materials provided, through to the compensation and provision of livelihood assistance and housing.

Bihar floods - The affected and the relief & rehabilitation (2007)

This report attempts to enumerate the vulnerable situation among Dalits and other marginalised communities to design and implement equitable and inclusive relief and rehabilitation process in disaster management. The study begins with the context of caste based exclusion and discrimination with regard to disaster management and development. It provides an overview of the Dalit population and their existing vulnerability factors in Bihar. It gives a historical overview of the flood proneness and damage in Bihar and situation in the 2007 floods. The nature and extent of relief provided by government and INGOs and issues of exclusions are explored in the report. Based on these it looks at strategies for building better disaster mitigation strategies based on human rights, equity and inclusion with particular focus on Dalits and other marginalised communities.

The excluded in relief and rehabilitation - Survey of post-flood situation of Dalit victims access to relief and rehabilitation in Andhra Pradesh floods (2009)

At the end of September 2009, sudden depressions in Bay of Bengal caused heavy rain fall in the catchment areas of Tungabhadra and Krishna rivers causing heavy flooding of both these rivers. This caused heavy flood in North Karnataka and the Rayalaseema region of AP. According to the official sources, over 13 lakh people were affected in five districts of Andhra Pradesh following unprecedented floods in Krishna river basin and have claimed 37 lives. This survey was conducted to unearth the gaps in the government system of functioning during disasters and expose the shameful attitude of the local authorities whose primary responsibility is to ensure equitable and non-discriminatory approach in reaching out to the affected masses with rescue and relief measures.

The study revealed that a majority of the Dalits from Mahaboobnagar district were the last to know about the calamity. They were also the last to receive relief and compensation, and be rehabilitated. Quite a few families migrated in search of livelihoods. In many villages, Dalits complained that SC colonies were the last to get relief material. NGO relief too was usurped by the upper castes. Many names went missing from the lists of victims made by the officials, especially where the victims did not return to the village immediately. Officials refused to include them afterwards.

The uncertainties of life… living through waters of dejection (2010)

The study conducted after the Yamuna floods in Delhi elaborately describes the wide range of problems the communities witnessed after the unprecedented floods. Even though the scale of this flood was not so vast, yet the impact on the victims was phenomenal. Case studies were conducted to bring out the varying degrees of sufferings of the Dalit and marginalised communities at the hands of the administration and the dominant caste communities in the wake of such a calamity, which should have ideally united various factions of society for the sake of humanity.

India Water Portal is grateful to Mr. Rajesh Singh of National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights for sharing these papers.