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The exploitation of lower caste people by the upper caste people has led to deprivation of opportunities in terms of livelihood. In this study we attempt to understand how caste dynamics affect the lives and choices in the urban slums of India by taking Bangalore as a case example. The study is based on data collected during the Bangalore Urban Poverty Study by Fields of View in 2010. The responses from 5662 persons from 1107 households surveyed across 36 slums were used to understand the differences based on occupation, income, expenditure, tenure rights, household amenities, healthcare and education based characteristics of the slum dwellers. The households were categorised as SC, ST, BC, OBC and general category. The results were compared with previous studies on similar parameters and inferences were drawn. It was found that across all categories, the major proportion of slum dwellers worked in informal sector and backward castes earned lower levels of income in these jobs. Even though the overall tenure security was low, SC had a comparatively higher proportion of persons with legal rights to dwelling. With respect to the cooking fuel used, the major types of fuel used include firewood, kerosene and LPG. The proportion households using firewood and LPG was higher among OBC category as compared to other categories. Under healthcare, a preference towards private healthcare facilities was found among all categories except general category. Deviation from existing studies was found in the results related to investments & tenure rights, existence of personal toilets, private & government healthcare available, healthcare expenditure & household income and female education rates. Majority of the households across all categories had invested in toilet facility at their home despite the lack of tenure rights. The private healthcare was not more expensive than the available government healthcare facility. On comparing the highest levels of educational attained across different categories, no gender based discrimination was found in any category except ST.
Keywords: Caste, slums, livelihood, education, healthcare
