Rethinking environmental justice in India: a philosophical critique of caste blind framework

In the West, Environmental Justice (EJ) emerged as an analytical and political discourse through movements that linked race, class, and environmental inequality. This article argues that the transposition of such frameworks onto Indian socio-historical and political realities often leads to a caste-blind vision which depoliticizes and reduces the problem of ecological inequality to one of either development or class. Through a philosophical engagement with various EJ framings, this article critiques the class- or caste-blind approaches to environmental injustice in India. It synthesises Ambedkarite and Marxist theories to trace that caste has historically shaped dangerous work, polluted environments, and differentiated exposures, even as capitalism increasingly comes to drive the exploitation of labour and nature. Dalit and Adivasi communities continue to bear the ecological price for ‘development’ today through displacement, hazardous labour, and environmental degradation. This systematic pattern demonstrates that environmental injustice in India has a caste-score to settle.