Studies on the Differential Impacts of Natural Disasters on Rural Society with a Focus on Agricultural Production

Abstract

newline The core objective of this study is to examine the differential nature of the impact of newline climate shocks across different socio-economic strata at the village and household level and newline to examine the variations in the post-shock recovery processes across the same strata. Two newline environmental shocks in India, cyclone Thane that hit Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in 2012 newline and the drought in Maharashtra in the agricultural year 2012-2013, have been considered for newline this study. In studying the impact of cyclone Thane, we focus on village Melalinjippattu in newline Cuddalore taluk of Tamil Nadu, close to Puducherry. In the case of drought, we focus on newline village Raikhel, in Osmanabad district of Maharashtra. newline The study focuses particularly on the impact of the disasters on agricultural newline production and the consequent impact on household incomes. It also examines the effect of newline the climatic shock on non-agricultural sources of income. The study analyzes the specific newline loss and damage suffered at the household level, the correlation between these to specific newline socio-economic characteristics of the household such as the extent of ownership and newline operational landholdings, and the variation in the extent of loss and damage across different newline socio-economic categories. The study further attempts to trace with care the processes of newline transformation that are set in motion by the shock and the subsequent process of recovery. newline The study examines in detail the wide variation in outcomes following the shock and the newline nature of its intimate connection with the high level of inequality existing prior to the shock. newline The study examines the vulnerability of different socio-economic strata in the villages newline studied not through the use of indicator-based methods, or statistical analysis based on a few newline variables, but through a detailed account connecting the outcomes of the shock and the post- newline shock recovery to the pre-existing socio-economic characteristics of the households. The newline study illustrates in quantitative detail many generally accepted stylized facts with reference newline to climatic shock and its impact on rural society that are rarely verified in empirical fashion. newline In doing so, it also illustrates the complexity and variability of disaster impact across newline different sections of society.