Jitendra Kumar, a 42-year-old labourer, hopes he will be lucky enough to get work for the day. One day at a time. “The heat is still bearable right now, but as it rises and the heatwave sets in, it becomes a test to even stand here.” There is no public drinking water around here, except for a gurdwara, which Kumar says is, “God’s way of looking out for him, which the people in power fail to.”

Many labourers like Kumar rush to such areas to find employment. But with the climate change-triggered heatwaves, it can be seen in plain sight that India invisibilises the people who toil in the heat and in the open, compared to the privileged, who get to work from the comfort of their homes, or air-conditioned offices.

Heatwaves impact people’s health as well as their livelihoods. Delving deeper into the issue, a group of civil society and advocacy organisations—HeatWatch, Aajeevika Bureau and Work Fair and Free Foundation—recently held a discussion with 70 daily-wage construction workers in Pune to understand the challenges faced working in extreme heat. 

Here are a few takeaways, which will unlikely be different from the state of play elsewhere in the country.

Fear Of Losing Livelihood

Workers are compelled to toil under extreme heat conditions due to a fear of loss of livelihoods. Their health conditions deteriorate because of prolonged exposure to heat, said HeatWatch founder Apekshita Varshney, adding that the lack of awareness and resources leaves them with no choice but to endanger their lives.

Varshney said employers or contractors who hire labourers don’t even give them basic amenities such as sheltered areas to rest, clean water, and toilets. “More often than not, workers are also forced to work through the peak hours of heat without any rest,” she added. 

“While health and safety regulations exist under the Building and Other Construction Workers Act, they primarily pertain to larger establishments. Employers engaging informal construction workers often operate beyond the reach of these regulations, posing challenges in enforcing compliance measures upon them,” Varshney said.

India needs policies that require employers to protect outdoor workers from extreme heat and compensate workers for hours lost. There is also an urgent need to rein in employers with a framework, which defines relief and amenities under extreme heat conditions, Varshney said, adding that early warning systems be made accessible for people working in informal sectors to raise awareness and preparation.

Last April, the Ministry of Labour and Employment put out guidelines for workers working in the heat. The guidelines suggested rescheduling working hours, ensuring drinking water facilities, and establishing provisions for emergency ice packs and heat illness prevention materials.

The guidelines also urged states (healthcare is a state subject) to adhere to the health advisory issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for employers and workers. 

A step in the right direction, but the guidelines are suggestions and not binding on the states. As a result, workers in the informal sector are left at the mercy of their employers.

Heat Action Plans

A Heat Action Plan helps ramp up readiness and mitigate the adverse impact of extreme heat through a variety of preparatory activities, disaster responses, and post-heatwave response measures. Several states, cities and district administrations across the country have rolled out Heat Action Plans with varying outcomes.

A report by the Centre For Policy Research, which analysed 37 heat action plans at state, city and district levels, flagged several shortcomings. A key takeaway was that nearly all HAPs are not identifying and helping the vulnerable, and are also underfunded. 

One key initiative under HAP that makes a significant impact on the lives of workers in the informal sector might be the cooling centres and heat shelters, which can provide temporary relief in times of extreme heat conditions. However, informal workers are unlikely to get easy access due to discrimination if cooling centres are in temples and malls.

There is a need for policymakers to build permanent cooling centres as heatwaves will persist and even strengthen in the future. Perhaps, the nation can look at Kerala, which is set to build air-conditioned permanent cooling centres across the state. 

Building these inclusive public cooling centres can go a long way to provide interim relief to informal workers. It can be a relaxing space for people to revive themselves from the adverse effects of heat. It is important the cooling centres be in the right cluster zones to benefit informal workers.

Separately, if we also incorporate the cool roof policy, pioneered by the Telangana government, into these permanent cooling solutions, it will be a more sustainable and cost-effective measure. Cool roofing is simple and has the potential to help poor people employ best practices to tackle the heat. It will also lower power consumption. 

Under the cool roof plan, the roofs are painted with reflective paint and are built using materials that retain less heat. The sunlight reflected from cool roof surfaces is more than a regular roof surface. Cool roofs can lower maximum indoor temperatures by 1.2–3.3°C.

“Using passive cooling mechanisms, which refers to any technologies or design features adopted to reduce the temperature of buildings without the need for power consumption, as well as low-cost active cooling solutions in these cooling centres, will not only make it environmentally sustainable but also cost-effective,” said Vinita Rodrigues at c Balance, a social enterprise working toward saving carbon and ecological costs. 

Cooling The Homes Of The Poor

Infrastructure intervention efforts can’t only be limited to just cooling centres, there is a need for the poor and the informal sector workers to have houses that are climate-resilient.

Organisations like c Balance have been experimenting with retrofitting tin-roofed house structures of the poor with passive cooling solutions such as roof insulation, roof shading, roof radiant barriers, night-sky radiation, evaporation and thermal mass.

Among the solutions, they have developed a mechanism for thermal mass, where water-filled PET bottles are used, as the technology, which are placed atop the roof to bring down the temperature.

Another approach is through rooftop gardens, which help reduce the temperature and also provide vegetation.

Installation of radiant barriers is another solution, wherein the technology used is Alufoil, a highly reflective material that reflects heat rather than absorbing it, thereby reducing indoor temperature. Alufoil is installed under the roof as a static solution or over the roof using dynamic operating mechanisms, wherein the installation is closed during the day, shielding the roof from the sun, and supporting with cooling through night-sky radiation when opened at night. 

The installation to be experimented with in a particular house is determined based on the structure of the house and the homeowners' input.

Another mechanism is Thermal Insulation, which reduces heat transfer and minimises indoor temperatures when installed under the roof of the informal housing structure. The technology used is a Wood Wool Panel, an environment-friendly, recyclable material made of wood shavings, cement and water. It insulates the house by not transferring the heat coming from the roof.

In the context of the fabrication of installations and material used in the process, the organisation is also in the process of exploring alternatives by substituting currently used industrially produced materials such as alfoil with reused inorganic waste.

c Balance is also working towards experimenting with DIY active cooling solutions, for example, icebox ACs, which can be cost-effective and help tackle the heat in places with high humidity.

With such initiatives and organisations working in the ecosystem, the government needs to look for collaborative opportunities and deploy their solutions at scale to build climate-resilient infrastructure. It is a much-needed step to safeguard people in the informal sector from facing the fury of the sun.