Hazardous industries and distributive environmental injustice in Ahmedabad, India

ABSTRACT Urbanization in India has been characterized by declining environmental quality and increasing class and caste segregations. These trends suggest the need to analyze distributive injustices that situate environmental hazards within urban scale inequalities. Our article seeks to address this need by linking the distribution of industrial facilities classified as Major Accident Hazard (MAH) units with the distribution of socially disadvantaged groups in Ahmedabad, a large metropolis in western India with a long history of industrial development. Using bivariate statistical comparisons and multivariable generalized estimating equations, this study examines whether socially disadvantaged groups are overrepresented in neighborhoods with the highest density of MAH units. Our statistical findings suggest a pattern of distributive environmental injustice based on significantly higher proportions of young children, Scheduled Castes and Tribes, and households without assets and amenities in areas with the highest concentrations of MAH units. Overall, this article shows how India's cities pose greater environmental hazards for socially disadvantaged communities, thereby raising concerns about the future of its urbanization.