2025 Essays

India's Climate Policies Fall Short Because They Refuse to See Caste

Sathuluri, David

This op-ed argues that India’s decision to include caste enumeration in the 2025 national census is a pivotal opportunity for climate justice, because climate policies have long been designed without recognizing how caste structures exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity to climate risks. Drawing on evidence that marginalized caste groups experience far higher occupational heat exposure and exclusion from relief and adaptation planning, the piece contends that existing climate vulnerability frameworks and finance mechanisms are “caste blind,” thereby reinforcing historical inequalities. It proposes that caste-disaggregated climate data from the census could transform vulnerability assessments, climate finance allocation, and disaster governance by enabling targeted, caste-conscious interventions and empowering marginalized communities to demand structural redistribution rather than symbolic inclusion.