It took a thief in Uttar Pradesh to expose India’s scorching heat divide. On an intensely hot day in early June, a man broke into a locked house in Lucknow’s Indiranagar neighbourhood, rummaged through the premises, and picked up valuables. Then, he spotted an air-conditioner.
He switched it on, found a snug cushion, lay down, and fell asleep. When the police arrived, the thief was napping. The story generated much mirth in India’s scalding summer.
No one is laughing any more. Especially in Delhi/NCR and the vast swathes of the country reeling under a prolonged heatwave. Temperatures are rising above 46 degrees across much of north India, including in UP, Uttarakhand, Bihar and Jharkhand.
At least 50 people have died in the current heatwave in the Delhi region, over 50 in UP and Odisha and at least 22 in Bihar. Arguably, intense heat is not unique to India. In the time of climate change, clearly, erratic, and extreme weather are the new norms.
Heat stress is affecting people across the world. But what needs to be sledgehammered is that in many countries, including India, policy response to extreme heat must factor in equity. Extreme heat affects us all, but not equally.
That India is a deeply unequal country is no secret. But prolonged heatwaves, including the current one, brutally expose India’s deep social, cultural, and economic fault lines. The Heatwave Havoc report, a new study by Greenpeace India and National Hawkers’ Federation, throws up valuable insights on.