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Basudatta Sarkar is an architect and city
Strategies to Cope Up Socio
Economic Vulnerability for
the Backward Regions in India
Basudatta Sarkar, Haimanti Banerji, Joy Sen
Abstract
Socio economic vulnerability occurs from the damages by
natural or manmade hazards. Communities having more
exposure to the hazards become more vulnerable unless
they have an appropriate risk management tool for
general and unforeseen situations. The vulnerable group
of society is thus identified with the key factors creating
vulnerability. Poverty, unemployment, degraded quality
of life, improper usage of resources, low connectivity with
the market, malnutrition, social exclusion are the
indicators of socio economic vulnerability. Our task is to
improve risk management tools in the form of policy
statement in the thrust areas. In this paper, after studying
recent researches and UNDP papers, different
vulnerability indicators have been assessed and
appropriate strategies have been proposed for the
backward regions to achieve balanced development.
Key Words
Socio-economic Vulnerability, Hazard, Asset
Management, Quality of Life (QoL), Resilience.
planner pursuing PhD in Department of
Architecture and Regional Planning, at Indian
Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. She has
received her under graduate degree from Bengal
Engineering and Science University, Shibpur and
masters' degree from IIT, Kharagpur.
Dr. Haimanti Banerji is currently working as
Assistant Professor in the Department of
Architecture and Regional Planning, Indian
Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. Banerji has
obtained her PhD on delineating a Psycho –
Stimulating Environment for Physically
Disabled People with Impaired Mobility
(PDIM). She is one of the authors of Universal
Design India Principles (UDIP) under Jamsetji
Tata Universal design Chair at NID. Apart from
Universal Design, her research interests include
Behavioral Architecture, Ergonomics and
Product Design, Medicare Planning and Urban
Design.
Dr. Joy Sen is a senior architect and urban-
regional planner based in India with a wide
academic experience. His post-doctoral
specialization had been 'environmental driven
livability goals'. He has been associated with
many projects by Government of India and
overseas. Joy had been bestowed the 'Best Thesis
Award' by Iowa State University, Ames, USA for
his masters dissertation. He was also awarded a
Minor in 'Technology and Social Change', a
program supported by the UNDP. Academic
experience includes his current Associate
professorship in Indian Institute of Technology,
Kharagpur. He has authored two major books and
several papers in Journals and Technical
magazines. He has a special book on 'Tibetan Art
and Archaeology' published by the Associations
of Tibetan Studies in China and North America.
He has also organized important seminars,
exhibitions presented several papers in different
International Seminars.
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117 Strategies to Cope Up Socio Economic Vulnerability for the Backward Regions in India
Introduction
This paper includes three sections. First part gives an
overview about the definition of vulnerability and
hazards, classification of vulnerability and the impact of
vulnerability study on developing countries. Second part
tells about the Indian scenario and the last part says about
the thrust areas and coping strategies.
Vulnerability is the susceptibility of an entity to be
damaged by physical or emotional injury or attack. The
term 'entity' refers to-
1. Physical entity i.e. different living and non living
elements of an eco-system.
2. Abstract entity i.e. society, community, economy etc.
Depending upon the different entities vulnerability can be
classified as:
1. Socio-economic
2. Geographic
3. Political
Definition of Hazard in the Context of Socio-
Economic Vulnerability: Any natural or manmade
event, sudden or extended for a period of time which
would have considerable negative impact on the quality
of life of people in a particular area may be termed as
hazard. Following are different events that may prove to
be hazardous to the socio economic stability of people
within a region.
Economic recession
A major change in Government policy decision
Natural disaster
Technological changes
Price change of certain commodity that would affect
the economy of people
A change in taxation policy
A major political turnover
Any new law or amendment of an existing law
Socio economic vulnerability arises out of either unequal
access to opportunities or differential exposure to
hazards. The communities which are relatively more
exposed to risk become more vulnerable unless they have
some inbuilt risk management tools that would prepare
them for any adverse and unforeseen situations. Poverty,
underdevelopment, poor education system, longer time
taken to revive from natural disaster, loss of livelihood,
unemployment, malnutrition causing illness and death
are the indicators of socio economic vulnerability. There
is a circular assembly of different forces within the
society which acts one upon another in such a manner that
a poor country remains poor. Low income leads to low
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savings which in turn results in lower disposable income
and therefore low demand and finally low investment that
tends to inefficient delivery of service which again leads
to low income. The task of a planner or a policy maker is
to improve risk management tools in the form of policy
statement to achieve resilience (i.e. ability of an entity to
resist damage) by reducing the vulnerability factors.
Impact of Socio-Economic Vulnerability Study on
Developing Countries : In developed countries, a
secured livelihood and higher income often increase
resilience which give people and society more protection
and facilitates quick recovery from any kind of hazard.
Again, good governance, strong economic base and
equitable distribution of resources act as catalysts in the
process of recovery. Situation is just the reverse for
developing countries. They require prior planning
towards developing tools for risk management. So a
futuristic approach for assessing the socio economic
vulnerability in backward regions of developing
countries and framing appropriate strategies is very
important. Aims of this study on assessing socio
economic vulnerability are to reduce poverty, population
pressure, improve public health, security, political
ecology, disaster and risk preparedness and
environmental degradation. It should target at how well a
system can work with any physical or emotional injury
that may harm it.
Scenario in India
Reason for Socio-Economic Vulnerability in
Backward Regions : The backward regions in India are
often characterized by sizeable chunks of lands with low
agricultural productivity, high incidence of poverty and
poor connectivity with market (V. Sulaiman Rasheed,
Holt, 2002). Most of the people in rural India are landless
and earn their livelihood by working as daily labors. To
add to the problem, small and marginal farmers are
completely depended upon the rainfall as there is hardly
any irrigation system. Though India is achieving
satisfactory growth rate in economy but inequitable
distribution of resources and opportunities is still a
persistent problem. In India, poverty is experienced
differently by people belonging to various caste, age,
class, gender, ethnicity and income level. The ill – effect
of poverty in backward regions is often enhanced by poor
quality or absence of road, climatic extremities, limited
access to good and services, poor social and physical
infrastructure, limited external institutional resources,
lack of good quality land and other productive assets like
cattle.
There are some key causes (Alcantara-Ayala, 2001) of
socio economic vulnerability in backward regions. These
are—
 Strategies to Cope Up Socio Economic Vulnerability for the Backward Regions in India
Lack of access to resources due to remoteness
Disparity in social pattern or social exclusion leading
towards unequal opportunities
Lack of strong national and local institutional
structures
Lack of access to information or knowledge
Lack of public awareness
Certain beliefs and customs
FocusAreas and Coping Strategies
Identification of Vulnerable Group : The most
vulnerable group of people are the poor, the disabled, the
elderly, women headed household, displaced people,
marginalized people and recent migrants. Also, it has
been observed, that in case of rapidly growing
communities, lack of social networking gradually leads to
the social exclusion. This social segregation on the basis
of age, race, ethnicity and gender often adds to the
vulnerability of a household or a community.
th
Issues Creating Vulnerability : 3/4 of the total
populations of India stay in rural areas (UNDP, 2007).
One of the primary issues that push them towards
vulnerability is their locational disadvantage. They
cannot access many services, facilities and newer
technologies due to this distance factor. This ultimately
leads to inadequate utilization of available resources.
Sometimes they are forced to adopt some means for
survival, which lead them more towards vulnerability
(Pasteur, 2011). Selling productive livestock, consuming
very little food leading to malnutrition, selling
agricultural equipments, selling land, borrowing money
at a high rate of interest, over exploiting natural resources
etc. are some examples of such hasty decision.
Apart from these, lack of decentralized system of
planning advocating participatory decision making and
weak linkage between different levels of government are
primary issues leading to socio economic vulnerability.
Poor people seldom participate in the decision making
process or to be precise the authority does not include
them in the process of decision making. Poor linkage
between local, state and national level government bodies
leads to wastage of resources, and misinterpretation of
various policies and ultimately implementation without
understanding people's needs.
Coping Strategies : This paper documents the findings
from the extensive literature review of coping strategies
that have been implemented in similar socio-economic
context. This paper is a part of an ongoing doctoral
research which aims to study the characteristics of socio-
economic vulnerability in the backward regions of West
Bengal. In this context authors have referred to reports
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which have discussed the various aspects of socio-
economic vulnerabilities in the backward regions in
Africa (Ellis et al., 2004 and Leichenko et al., 2001). India
like many other developing countries is showing a
decrease in the quantum of agricultural land as a result of
rapid urbanization. This increasing shortage of
agricultural land is the major reason for low household
incomes which lead to the high dependence on livestock
maintenance, grain storage and crop agriculture. Similar
situation also prevail in Africa (Yamano et al, 2003),
(Frank et al, 2004).
The discussion papers (UNDP, 2001,2003,2004,2010 and
th
2011) and the draft approach paper of the 12 five year
plan have helped in formulating the various coping
strategies. After conducting thorough research on the
available literature in this field, the authors reasonably
assume that as the communities have chances to lead
towards vulnerability, it is also possible that they move
towards resilience. The progression can be made by
different orders of asset management (Moser, 1998) like
selling excess animals, consuming less expensive food,
transfer of food or money or reciprocal labour exchange,
selling non essential possessions, casual local work or
temporary migration, drawing on existing savings etc.
This section details out the various coping strategies as
obtained from analyses of various case studies.
1. Asset Management : This paper acknowledges the
need of a more appropriate and scientific system of
asset management in order to address the above –
mentioned issues. The assets of a community are
mainly of two types – tangible assets and intangible
assets.
1 (a) Management of Tangible Assets: Tangible
assets include natural resource, human resource and
built assets within a community (Moser, 1998).
Management of human resource is particularly
important and the main objective is improving the
overall quality of life (QoL).
i) Poverty reduction: Following policies would be
effective in reduction of poverty.
Restricting selling of products (agro product/agro
base product) in local mandi through some
middlemen since this brings them very less profit.
Introducing internet kiosk and trained personnel to
help farmers know about the best price from the
market.
Providing low value agricultural market place in an
open arena.
Facilitating accessing information regarding weather
forecast, latest farming techniques, crop insurance
systems.
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119 Strategies to Cope Up Socio Economic Vulnerability for the Backward Regions in India
Enhancing awareness amongst all sections of the
society regarding their right to relevant information
and to facilitate the process through civil society
organization.
Identifying poor and their needs and then creating
diverse livelihood which will strengthen the
community.
Creating non-farm livelihood by improving
technological knowledge, information, skill, direct
training or training local agents, rural tourism, grain
banking system, rural employment exchange.
Introducing participatory market mapping for better
understanding of the market system and relationship
with seller and buyer.
Reducing gender specific responsibilities through
women empowerment.
Improving learning environment for women by
providing female teacher in adequate number, toilet
facility, protection from sexual harassment, and mid-
day meals.
Providing micro credits to encourage small scale
entrepreneurs, women entrepreneurs and self help
group.
Reserving seat for women candidate in the local
government and include them in the decision making
process.
ii) Improving Quality of Life (QOL): Following
measures can be taken to improve the quality of Life
of a community:
Providing access to healthcare facilities, educational
facilities and social security to the migrants to
increase workforce.
Providing adequate number of municipal schools
which should extend beyond establishing
supplementary centres in remote area. The overall
scheme can be made successful by providing dress,
food, books and other equipments required for
schooling purpose and organizing parental education
programmes.
Making a backward district powerful by people's
participation, equal distribution of services within
the district, and increasing revenue yield.
· Introducing the concept of health insurance and
increasing awareness amongst people towards incurable
diseases through campaigning. Health camps in remote
areas are also very effective in keeping records regarding
life expectancy, child mortality, recurrence of particular
diseases all of which act as indicators of community's
health.
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Providing adequate number of female physicians.
Restricting delivery of substandard service
especially to the poor or lower caste people.
Preventing illegal migration and subsequent
exploitation.
Providing scope for higher education, capacity
building, and development of skill for higher
employability through various schemes and programs.
iii) Employment Generation:
Increasing employment generating capacity of
various sectors through technological innovations,
upgradation and formalization to the extent possible
of informal sector.
Creating a more conducive environment for
generation of employment in diversified fields and
organizing various training programs for skill
upgradation especially for women.
Producing more skilled and unskilled labour for the
new industries through focused and industrially
guided or sponsored training programmes.
Arranging household credit schemes from NGO for
greater opportunities.
1(b) Management of Productive Assets: Productive assets
refer to the belongings, personal or community which are
beneficial to the owner. Through productive asset
management a community can achieve resilience with the
help of following policies:
Encouraging livestock development by introducing
the concept of animal husbandry, cattle development
centre, milk co-operatives, door to door marketing of
milk and other products, connecting farmers to the
formal milk market.
Providing adequate knowledge for management and
optimum utilization of other assets like forestry,
water, minerals etc.
Ensuring the use of fertile land for agriculture and
non productive land for any other development like
commercial or public development rather than
keeping it vacant and providing appropriate
framework for land ownership.
Encouraging household industries.
1(c) Management of Intangible Assets : Intangible assets
are some invisible forces which are very important in the
rural areas to achieve socio economic resilience against
vulnerability by creating a social safety net through the
household relations and social capitals. Few policies are
suggested to improve the usage of intangible assets:
Improving household relations by enhancing family
ties, community networking, introducing time and
 Strategies to Cope Up Socio Economic Vulnerability for the Backward Regions in India
labour saving technologies for more quality time to
be available, preventing labour migration and cases
of child labour.
Improving social capital by informal credit
arrangement, ensuring betterment of infrastructure
available to a community like provision of
electricity, water supply, sanitation facility etcetera
through government grants.
2. External Aids : External aids are given by the
government or NGOs for the economic, socio-cultural
and environmental development. These can be in the form
of project specific grants or periodic grants. The
following policies are suggested to avail external aids for
the socio economic development at community level:
Preparing detail projects reports on issues related to
improvement of rural livelihood, provisioning of
education and healthcare related facilities. These
reports should highlight the monetary requirement,
time – frame and the benefits to be derived at the end
of the project period.
Providing basic infrastructure and amenities,
ensuring livable housing and security of tenure,
generating employment et- cetera.
Gathering funds for introducing new technologies
for farming, new rural market and livestock
development.
Ensuring proper devolution of funds.
Conclusion
This paper concludes by highlighting the need for
focusing on proper management of tangible and
intangible assets within the region as the first step to
achieve socio – economic resilience. Once the key factors
for the vulnerability of the region are identified,
management of asset for that region would be easier and
ultimately leading to the resilience. The planers and
policy makers should focus on micro – level analysis of
assets within a community in order to frame a sustainable
policy to attain resilience. The policies should necessarily
be framed considering the present livelihood, code of
conducts and actual needs of the community.
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