Heat Waves Expose India's Inequality, Poor Are The Most Vulnerable To Blistering Temperature

As India is being strangled by the blistering heat waves, with the highest temperature of 52.3 degrees Celsius recorded in Delhi’s Mungeshpur, the country's poor are once again the most vulnerable.

Living in a developing country like India makes you witness how low-income communities of the society struggle the most during climate change. The risk of dangerous heat waves falls upon the poor the hardest as these people lack basic facilities like air conditioners, coolers, fans and sometimes access to cold water.

Rama, my housemaid, desperately shows her need to spend more time at other houses, working in the air-conditioned environment so she can avoid heat exposure.

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How Low-Income Families Cope With The Rising Temperature

As I curled up in my air-conditioned room, I didn’t realize when my housemaid dozed off on the floor. After a good one hour’s sleep, she started to explain, “Our cooler broke recently and fan’s not working quite properly. Proper sleep is the last thing I get these days.”

A brutal heatwave has upended the lives of millions of people in India who are struggling to cope with the soaring temperatures.

“My husband covers himself with a wet blanket at night to keep himself cool,” Rama Shared her struggles amid harsh temperature.

India’s Heat Waves Claimed Over 45 Lives In Past 36 Hours

Image Courtesy: CNA

The dangerous heat waves in India claimed over 45 lives in the past 36 hours reportedly. With this, the death toll due to heat waves across the country has reached 87. According to the reports, 19 more people died of heatstroke in western Odisha, 16 in Uttar Pradesh in a single day, while five succumbed to the high temperatures in Bihar, four in Rajasthan, and one in Punjab in one day.

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