According to the World Weather Attribution, the heatwave in India and Pakistan this year was a one-in-a-hundred-year occurrence. With global warming, things are only expected to get worse. Heatwave advisories ask people to not step out during extreme temperatures, but daily wage labourers have no choice. With unbearable working conditions, a 2021 study published in Nature Communications found that in India, the productivity lost per year due to heat is equivalent to 23 million jobs. 

In this episode of Climate Emergency, host Suryatapa Mukherjee explores solutions with Dr. Dileep Mavalankar, the director at the Indian Institute of Public Health Gandhinagar who designed South Asia’s first heat action plan for the city of Ahmedabad in Gujarat; and Jagdish Patel, the Director of Peoples Training And Research Centre, who works on occupational health and safety rights. She also spoke to Arati Naskar and Sheela Chakraborty who work as sweepers with Kolkata Municipal Corporation, and Habibul who is contractually hired as a construction worker. 

Stay Off Work In Afternoon, Labourers Told | Bhubaneswar News - Times of India 
Kolkata heat rise worst in world, IPCC global warming report finds - Telegraph India 
Disaster deaths, sinking: Unprepared Kolkata face multiple climate risks, warns IPCC report 
Heat Exposure, Cardiovascular Stress and Work Productivity in Rice Harvesters in India: Implications for a Climate Change Future 
Employee's State Insurance Corporation, Ministry of Labour & Employment, Government of India – ESIC Scheme |Coverage. 

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