An electric rickshaw driver splashes water on his face to cool off under the summer heat in Lucknow, India, on Wednesday.Rajesh Kumar Singh/The Associated Press
At a busy intersection in Gurugram, on the outskirts of New Delhi, several street vendors were standing beside their carts this week, shaded by umbrellas with large blue plastic sheets spread over them.
“These umbrellas are no longer enough. So we made a makeshift arrangement with an added cover to shield us from the sun,” said Mohammed Kaish, whose fruit cart was piled high with seasonal mangoes and watermelons.
He was sweating, but the fruit had to be kept cool, so he sprinkled water from his bottle over them every hour. “We can’t take a break or go home in the afternoon. Customers are fewer due to the heat, but some still drive by and stop to buy fruits.”
Opinion: Heat waves are invisible. But we need to see them for what they are
India is reeling under intensifying heat waves sweeping across the country, with temperatures soaring above 46 C. Red and orange alerts from the Indian Meteorological Department have been warning that severe conditions are likely to continue for several days, including in New Delhi.
As hospitals report a rise in heat-related illnesses, the government has directed states to activate heat action plans, including advisories on early heat-wave warnings, changing work and school schedules, providing cooling stations and urging people to move indoors during the afternoon hours, when temperatures peak.
But for millions whose livelihoods depend on working outdoors, like Mr. Kaish, there is little respite.
A man sits in front of a water cooler in New Delhi on Wednesday. The roadside cooling station was set up to provide relief from the heat.Manish Swarup/The Associated Press
In late April, according to data compiled by AQI, an India-based air quality monitoring outfit, the top 50 hottest cities in the world were all in India. New Delhi was ranked 15th on the list.
New data show a pattern of higher-than-average temperatures and heat waves arriving earlier and persisting longer across the region, with the warming El Niño cycle amplifying the situation.
“What is happening in India is no longer a region-specific problem. The entire subcontinent is reeling under heat stress. Heatwaves come as early as March and extend right up to September and October. Even regions that were previously not imagined to be vulnerable, such as the Northeast and Kashmir, have experienced heatwaves,” said urban policy researcher Aravind Unni.
The impact has been especially hard on India’s millions of marginalized people, with heat-related illnesses responsible for lost wages and higher health care costs. A study Mr. Unni co-authored this year found severe impacts on the livelihood of Delhi’s street vendors: Ninety-six per cent reported fewer customers, 72 per cent had lost stock due to heat damage, and debt had nearly doubled.
“Heatwaves have become far more unpredictable. From a public health perspective, we still do not have clear heat exposure thresholds that can trigger warnings for vulnerable groups, such as pregnant women, many of whom continue working outdoors even during peak heat. Awareness around hydration is limited,” said Hyderabad-based Devarsetty Praveen, a public health expert at The George Institute for Global Health.
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With India’s rise in heat exposure driven both by climate change and rapid urbanization, triggering the “heat island” effect, even nights have become warmer than usual. This has prolonged thermal stress in middle- and low-income housing, limiting recovery from daytime heat, revealed a recent study by Climate Trends, a research consultancy on climate change.
There’s a clear impact on farming and crops, too. Indian scientists recently found that during El Niño years, the output of key crops such as rice, known as paddy in India, and maize fell by more than 10 per cent in parts of the country.
Onkar Singh, a 72-year-old farmer and general secretary of the Bharatiya Kisan Union, based in the state of Punjab, has seen the loss firsthand.
“Farming conditions have worsened. Our wheat crop this year was affected because the grains were weak, as they could not grow properly due to early onset of heat. Paddy, too, is suffering, because it is a water-intensive crop, and with the soil drying much faster in temperatures touching 47 degrees Celsius, we need more water than usual. But irrigation depends on electricity supply, which also faces shortages during heatwaves,” he said.
In 2024, heat exposure resulted in a loss of 247 billion potential labour hours, a record high and 124 per cent more than in 1990-1999, according to a Lancet India study published last year.
India-focused heat impact research designed to inform policy interventions is growing. India’s heat-warning system will undergo an overhaul to address gaps, the government announced this week, particularly in coastal areas. More than 20 Indian states now have heat action plans.
But implementation is inadequate and short-term, experts say. Interventions such as cooling roofs and parametric insurance (lump-sum payouts) for women have helped, particularly in urban slums, but many are still in pilot stage.
“India is a huge country, so government responses to heat stress have to be far more nuanced. Many existing responses are not legally binding. Heat stress continues to be treated under disaster management frameworks, but the reality is that it is no longer a singular event and spread across much of the year,” Mr. Unni said.