Mapping the legislative vacuum in India’s heat crisis

The phenomenon of extreme heat in India has undergone a profound geographic and demographic shift, transitioning from a seasonal hardship to a systemic national crisis. Once confined largely to the arid northwest and central plains, heatwaves now regularly penetrate humid coastal corridors and traditionally temperate regions. The last two years recorded unprecedented temperatures, with over 57% of Indian districts now classified as heat-prone. However, while the thermal canopy covers the entire subcontinent, its impact is sharply divided by class, caste, and gender. For the affluent, heat is an inconvenience managed through private cooling; for the nearly 400-490 million informal workers, it is a systemic violation of the right to life and a driver of “thermal injustice.”

Unlike those with private infrastructure, construction workers, street vendors, and delivery partners possess zero “cooling autonomy.” For these individuals, as studies consistently demonstrate, even a small rise in temperature causes a significant drop in productivity and a corresponding loss of income. These workers are routinely forced to choose between their biological survival and their economic survival.