1. Endemic Urban Riots –
Methods, Impacts and
Implication for Child
Poverty and Vulnerability
Jaideep Gupte, Patricia
Justino, Jean-Pierre
Tranchant
Session C1: Inclusion and Access to Services Presentation: 2

2. Impacts of endemic urban violence on
children
Children are often the most vulnerable to urban
violence
– Injuries can occur inside the home, and outside,
during work, school and play.
– Injuries are one of the most common reasons
for school absenteeism and missing work
We know that impacts go well beyond physical
injury and hurt; wider social, psychological and
economic costs
Fear, anxiety and powerlessness are very significant
predictors of short and long term illbeing and poor
outcomes.

3. Rioting in India
0
20000
40000
60000
80000
100000
120000
Riots
Murders
Banditry
India
Source: Crime in India, Govt of India, various years

4. Evidence from Maharashtra
307,731 km2
112,372,972
people
80.2% Hindu
10.6% Muslim

5. Districts with endemic riots

6. Mumbai
45 Survey
neighbourhoods
- ‘Voting booth zones’ (groups of
~200 households) chosen to match
most recent violence (based on
pre-interviewing; media reports;
studies)
- Higher number of sites with
fewer HHs per site
- Randomisation ensured
incidence and non-incidence
sites
- Takes into account: incidence,
endemic, criminality, administrative
divisions and geographic regions.
- Random selection of 10% of
households and mapping

7. Maharashtra Households Longitudinal Study on Welfare
and Civil Violence (MHLS)
Data collected by the authors in 2010 and 2012
Survey of 1089 households in 45 neighbourhoods in 10 districts
Modules on violence and safety (experience and perceptions),
vulnerabilities, housing, social interactions, police, governance
In-depth qualitative interviews with one respondent per site
Extensive cartographic material of each site
Behavioural games

8. Victimization
Victimization measured at household level (although we gather
external data at district and sub-district levels)
In the last 24 months, have any of the following event occurred
in your neighbourhood? List includes riot, stone-pelting, public
fight, tire burning, curfew.
In the last 24 months, have you or any member of the household
experienced any of the following event? List includes health,
economic, climatic shocks and crime and riots.
We tried to separate out the notions of occurrence of a riot and
of household vulnerability to riots.

9. Proportion of children in sample (urban India)
4.6% are children <2 (4.6%)
10.7% are children <5 (9.7%)
31.8% are below 16 years old (30%)
36.2% are below 18 years old (34.1%)
Proportion of minors significantly lower among riot-affected
households (32.2%) than among non riot-affected households
(36.8%)

10. Access to Services
Median monthly income: Rs 5,000 (about £70)
Mean hours of running water: 3.75
Mean hours of electricity: 19
Toilets in home: 57%; community toilets: 27%, open defecation:
16%
Proportion of minors significantly lower among riot-affected
households (32.2%) than among non riot-affected households
(36.8%)
Mean size of dwelling: 60 square meters (16 in Mumbai/Thane)

11. Descriptive Statistics: Riot Victimization
1 in 5 sampled households reported a riot in their area in the last
2 years. Rioting is the most common form of civil violence
together with stone- pelting (19%) and public fight (21%)
14% of respondents reported a curfew: sign of large scale riots
12.5 % of households declared they were affected by a riot
Of these, a large majority did not directly suffer from riots in
terms of property damage or injuries (26 out of 136)
Victimization captures indirect consequences of rioting: fear,
strained community relations, inability to go to work, get
medicines/food in relation to curfew
Within the most 8 most affected neighbourhoods, victimization
rate is 43% (never higher than 66.67%). Outside these
neighbourhoods, 6%.

12. Causes of Riot Victimization
Physical vulnerability:
e.g. hh living close to a likely riot spot, and/or to a crime hotspot, and/or in vulnerable
dwelling. Neighbourhood spatial features also matter for explaining where riots happen
(see our companion paper)
Social isolation:
victimization decreases with household ability to receive aid from neighbours and friends
during and after the riot (Tambiah 1996). Varshney (2002), Jha (2008), Berenschot (2011)
point out that communities with strong and cross-cutting social interactions are better able
to avoid episodes of violence
Economic vulnerability:
households with savings and capacity to store food are better able to navigate periods of
curfew and/or diffculty to go to work. At the neighbourhood level, strong apparent
association between poverty and violence.
Identity markers:
households with a particular identity may be targeted during riot, or excluded from
solidarity efforts. Neighbourhoods with a particular identity mix (e.g. religious polarization
or caste fragmentation) might be more prone to riots

13. Results and Implications
Not only physical hurt/injury; but wider lens needed
to include psychological impacts and the more
‘mundane’ impacts (eg. curfews, rumours)
Social networks/characteristics matter for coping
Household characteristics matter
Locational characteristics matter (neighbourhood,
and sub-neighbourhood)
Our Next steps:
…

14. Technical papers
Gupte, J., Justino, P. and Tranchant, J.P. 2012.
Households Amidst Urban Riots: The Economic
Consequences of Civil Violence in India - HiCN
Working Paper #126
Gupte, J. 2012. The Agency and Governance of
Urban Battlefields: How Riots Alter Our
Understanding of Adequate Urban Living - HiCN
Working Paper 122
Both available on the IDS website