Dev 360 | Heatwaves Amid Crisis In West Asia: Can We Cope?

Political disagreements can sometimes turn into negotiations. But you can’t negotiate heat waves.

April’s heatwave comes at a time when India is grappling with seismic changes from the escalating West Asian conflict, the political heat of Assembly elections that is reverberating across all sectors of the economy, affecting businesses, household budgets and even the kitchen. Rising temperatures exacerbate these pressures: on livelihoods, health, family finances and the national mood.

Temperatures across New Delhi are expected to remain above 40°C for several days next week. 32 out of 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh are under official heatwave alert with temperature exceeding 44°C. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicts that heat wave conditions will continue in the northern, central and eastern parts of India. New research shows that humid heat (humid high temperature) is emerging as a dangerous climate threat. Unlike dry heat, humidity prevents sweat from evaporating, making even moderate temperatures deadly, says the New Delhi-based Center for Financial Responsibility India’s worsening heatwave crisis is no longer just an environmental problem but a deepening economic and social emergency. What was once an occasional extreme event is becoming a structural feature of India’s climate reality.

Extreme heat acts as a multiplier, deepening discomfort and increasing geopolitical and political stress. Informal workers are experiencing job and income loss not only due to the LPG crisis caused by conflicts in West Asia, but also due to heat stress; The middle-class salaried segment is preparing for higher electricity bills as well as stagnant incomes. Both groups are caught in the crossfire of climate, conflict and politics. Citizens feel stuck on all sides: health risks outdoors, rising electricity bills indoors, and political turbulence everywhere.

Heat has now become a constant topic of conversation, well beyond Ahmedabad’s pioneering 2013 Heat Action Plan, a response to the deadly heatwave of 2010 that led to more than 1,300 deaths.

The good news: State and city leaders across India are developing their own heat strategies.

Tamil Nadu declared the heatwave as a state-specific disaster, allowing State Disaster Response Fund resources to be used for relief, compensation and preparedness. The situation is the same in Kerala, Telangana and some other states. Tamil Nadu also has a Green School initiative that includes cool roof coverings that reduce indoor temperatures and air-conditioned lounges for gig workers. One of the gram panchayats in Kozhikode, Kerala, has developed its own heat action plan, a unique village-level initiative to deal with rising temperatures. Ahmedabad pioneered heat insurance schemes with the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) where informal women workers pay a small premium and receive automatic payments when temperatures exceed dangerous thresholds. Mumbai and Jodhpur have set up cooling stations in schools and community halls. Kerala has helped residents plan for outdoor exposure by offering UV heat alerts via social media and WhatsApp.

The bad news: India’s Heat Action Plans still focus heavily on emergency responses, issuing warnings, opening cooling centers and managing daytime exposure. They fail to address the changing nature of heat, particularly increasing nighttime temperatures, the urban heat island effect and the urgent need for long-term structural adaptation.

Many of these thorny issues came up for discussion at the recent Global Heating and Cooling Forum in New Delhi, organized by the US-based Natural Resources Defense Council in conjunction with India’s Ministry of Science and Technology, the Disaster Resilient Infrastructure Coalition and other Indian partners.

As Harvard public health expert Satchit Balsari wrote in an article for a study published on the forum (Critical Perspectives on Extreme Heat in India) by the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability at Harvard: “An estimated three-quarters of the country’s workforce, roughly 380 million people, are engaged in heat-exposed labor, agriculture, construction, and a wide range of informal occupations that account for nearly half of India’s GDP. In the near future, the scale of exposure will become even more intense: In the country As many as 200 million people could face deadly heat conditions as early as 2030, while increasing heat stress is predicted to be responsible for tens of millions of job losses worldwide.

But the inconvenient truth is that India’s capacity to adapt remains glaringly unequal – only eight per cent of the country’s households have access to air conditioning, Mr Balsari notes, “leaving the majority of the population having to cope with rising temperatures with limited or ineffective means. This raises more fundamental questions about how heat is understood, measured and acted upon within science, policy and planning.”

Although emerging heat action plans in India suggest that they could reduce heat-related deaths, scholars Robert Douglas Meade, Aditya Valiathan Pillai, and Satchit Balsari ask “How hot is too hot?” in the study. Much-discussed strategies such as mandatory work breaks, safety equipment and cooling centres, changes to school hours and transport schedules all impact businesses’ incomes and vulnerable people’s wages. “Employers and employees have incentives to avoid heat-related costs and effectively sacrifice health to protect their jobs and livelihoods,” the researchers note:

There is little debate in the field about the connection between heat and equity. Take the much talked about “Cold Roofs”. While solar reflective paint (cool roof coating) is often marketed in India as a cost-effective solution to reduce heat, the application process and high-quality materials can make it a truly significant investment even for middle-class Indians. On the other hand, the painter, who is a part of the informal economy, often has to do the cool roof covering in the scorching heat. Water, frequent breaks, and shade may be offered, but it is still not comfortable work. Many of the workers in India’s informal economy, which powers the country’s economic growth, do not have access to enforceable workplace protections.

This is the stark reality that India’s policy planners must face. As Sheela Patel, activist, academic and founder of Mumbai-based SPARC (Society for Promotion of District Resource Centres), puts it: “Informality will increase exponentially in every country. Extreme heat sometimes comes with wind and rain. This is the face of disaster for poor people.”

It remains unclear to what extent hot action plans benefit the most vulnerable. Strategies such as mandatory work breaks, cooling centers, or varying school hours all carry economic costs and encourage cutting corners and sacrificing health for wages. Informal workers, who do not have applicable protections, bear the brunt of losing their income and paying medical bills in sweltering heat.

How India copes with extreme heat, among other challenges, will shape its future. You can’t negotiate with heat. But now you can mandate the protection of workers, including women, and investment in climate-resilient infrastructure.