CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE MIGRATION CRISIS IN TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY INDIA

Abstract

Climate change has been generating a destructive impact on the socio-economic and political lives of people worldwide. It has become a threatening issue in India in the 21st century. Due to rapid industrialization and modern urbanization, trees have been cut and reservoirs are going to be closed in irrational ways. Moreover, various types of pollutants and hazardous compounds are being mixed in the air and soil and pollute the environment, which leads to unexpected climate changes. This climate change leads to natural disasters like heavy rain, floods, sea-level rise, droughts, earthquakes, cyclones etc. And, these natural disasters reason deaths, ecological harm, loss of possessions and infrastructures. Consequently, a huge number of people are compelled to leave their abode, lose their belongings and move to other places as migrants to live a secure life. And, specifically, women and children suffer the most and their human rights have been violated in different ways like violence, sexual-assault, rape, abduction, mal-nutrition etc. So, the main purpose of this paper is to analyse the problem of climate migration, the plight of climate migrants, and the government's response to it. Based on secondary source materials, this paper concludes with the major findings that the crisis of climate migration is increasing steadily in India, and climate migrants face severe livelihood problems. And, the government of India has adopted and is pursuing various policies to address climate change and the problem of climate migration.