A Relative Entropy Framework for Residential Segregation in Urban India

Abstract

We develop a sociologically and politically grounded multi-scale mensuration framework for residential segregation in urban India. Our rich dataset that we use to illustrate our framework contains independent India’s first census-scale enumeration (n ≈ 60million) and coding of elementary caste categories (≈ 700 jatis). Using household-level data, we delineate the first large-n portrait (≈ 45, 000 neighborhood units) of how ghettos and enclaves in India are the warp and weft of a common spatially ordered fabric. We find systematic evidence for persistent spatial marginalization of Muslims and Dalits (the formerly “untouchable” caste groups).