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A World Bank report states that up to 75 per cent of India’s workforce depends on heat-exposed labour, at times working in potentially life-threatening temperatures. This largely comprises the informal workforce of the country. The report also states that heat-exposed work contributes to nearly half of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Bengaluru, the capital city of the southern Indian state of Karnataka, is home to approximately 1.4 crore people. It has a large population of informal workers who build the city, keep it moving, and endure heat exposure for long hours while doing so. These are the daily labourers employed for physically intensive work, construction workers, street vendors, domestic helpers and cleaners, workers in small-scale industrial units, delivery staff zipping through the roads, auto, and taxi drivers spending days and nights in metal vehicles, security guards working long hours, and other lakhs of people doing odd and miscellaneous jobs in the city. 38-year-old Venkatachala is one such informal worker.
Venkatachala makes a living by selling flowers on his pushcart. “As the temperatures rise, it becomes increasingly challenging to push my cart. I get tired more easily, and my body aches. Once it gets even hotter, I sweat a lot and consequently feel dizzy and can’t do much,” he says. |
Until two decades ago, Bengaluru was known for its pleasant climate. The city is situated at a height of 900m, at the centre of the southern peninsula—not too far from the Arabian Sea or the Bay of Bengal. Ample green cover and numerous water bodies added to its characteristic pleasantness. Summer peaked in April at an average temperature of 34.1°C. Now, the hot days arrive as early as February.
This year, the temperatures soared to
34.1 C
in February
o
During the months of high temperatures, most of Venkatachala’s flower stock needs to be sold off before 10 am. “Nobody wants to buy flowers in the heat,” he says.
A canopy is beyond his means, so the flowers quickly droop and shrivel. If the flower stock is not sold by the next day, Venkatachala's day would be filled with the heady and heartbreaking smell of wilting Indian chrysanthemums, jasmines, crossandras, and roses.
“It’s colder and physically easier to sell in the winter. The flowers last longer,” he says. Low productivity, loss of stock, and added cost of amenities like water and cooling devices—summers add a financial burden on Venkatachala. Warming winters are adding to his worries.
Stay hydrated, use oral rehydration solutions (ORS),consume lemon water, buttermilk or lassi, and fruit juices with some salt added.
Eat seasonal fruits and vegetables with a high water content.
Stay indoors and in
well-ventilated, cool places as much as possible by blocking direct sunlight and limiting daytime outdoor activities.
Hydration
Food
Shelter
In the first week of March, 2024, Karnataka's Health and Family Welfare Department had to issue a heat wave advisory. Heat waves, along with cyclones, tsunami, landslides, floods, urban floods, and earthquakes, are categorised as natural disasters by the National Disaster Management Authority.The advisory stated:Several points in the advisory are luxuries that lakhs of informal workers, like Venkatachala, cannot even think of.
Source: WRI India analysis using World Settlement Footprint (WSF) Evolution 1985-2015, and WSF 2019; German Aerospace Center (DLR)
Once renowned for its lakes and gardens, Bengaluru is now known for its IT parks. Today, the city has earned the sobriquet of the Silicon Valley of India and witnessed an extraordinary expansion in urban built-up areas.
That is a phenomenal amount of concrete poured into the said valley in the last three decades.
When Venkatachala arrived in Bengaluru in the year 2000, the city was green; there were plenty of lakes, and many traditional houses didn’t have fans or heaters. It was a year of a notably chilly winter, with December recording a record temperature of 11.5°C. Venkatachala moved to Bengaluru from Bankapura, his village near Mysuru.
In 2023, Bengalureans experienced the warmest December in a decade. The average temperature during the night was recorded at 18.6°C, 2.7°C higher than nighttime temperatures in 2013.
The heat in our urban areas is a result of an unholy combination of climate change and land misuse. Our cities are built of concrete, metal, and asphalt. These materials absorb heat during the day and take a long time to cool at night. As a result, the nights in cities like Bengaluru have become warmer than they were. This is called the urban heat island effect. Exhaust from air conditioners and polluting trail emissions from the vehicles add to heat in the city.
“Due to repeated encounters with heat in their everyday lives, the workers are unable to cool down and recover from heat stress, leading to heightened health risks,” explains Debdatta Chakraborty, a research scholar at the interdisciplinary programme in climate studies, the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai.
Informal settlements are often marked by high material and residential density, heat-trapping design and material, overcrowded residential units, inaccessibility to effective cooling solutions, and poor ventilation, contributing to indoor heat stress. The Venkatachala family, including his wife and two school-going children, lives in one such settlement. “Our house in Bengaluru, no matter how much we cool it, tends to remain hot. The ground floor is bearable, but we live on the first floor, which has sheet roofing, making life unbearable in the heat,” says Venkatachala.
Heat-related health issues occur when the body’s temperature-regulating mechanism gets overwhelmed by heat. The illnesses run on a spectrum.
Asbestos (cement)
sheet on the roof
trap the heat Heat
Radiation
“It could be something as mild as heat fatigue or could be as severe as heat stroke, where a person would be unconscious and have a core body temperature of more than 40°C, which is life-threatening. Those who work with heavy machinery that generates heat or directly under the sun are at a higher risk of developing heat illnesses,” says Dr Parth Sharma, a public health physician and researcher.
Throughout the summer, public officials advise drinking plenty of water, but an adequate water supply is a struggle for hundreds of informal settlements. Like Venkatachala, 60 per cent of the city survives on water purchased from tankers.
“Due to our water issues, we can only afford to take a bath once every 2 or 3 days. Unfortunately, this leads to problems such as rashes, dandruff, and other skin issues during the summer,” says Venkatachala. A 12,000-litre water tanker costs Rs 1,200.
Source: WRI India
In this map, the recharge potential of the city is overlaid with new development added between 2000 and 2015.
Source: WRI India
The map shows the extent of the urbanised footprint in and around Bengaluru in 2000.
This year, as the city grows hot and thirsty, severe water shortages loom large. The scarcity has reached affluent housing colonies, malls, and the famed IT parks. In competition for vital resources such as water, the privileged have an unfair advantage over the informal workforce. Step by step, the informal workers and their families fall behind in life.
As the maps show, much of the infrastructure networks and surrounding new development are clustered in areas with high and very high recharge potential (shown in light and dark green). At a 20 km radius from the city centre (inner circle marked in the maps), within which the entire BBMP area is contained, 65% of the 206 sq km of new development between 2000 and 2015 has been placed on high and very high recharge potential zones.
Let’s see a small but significant daily event in Venkatachala’s neighbourhood, Priyanka Nagar — The government lower primary school is 2 km away in Seegehalli. Children have to walk to the school. Middle and higher secondary schools are approximately 6-7 km away in KR Puram. To get to the school, a child has to walk to the nearest bus stand, which is 2 km away, and then take a bus. In the summer, these commutes get exhausting for children.
“Children are more prone to dehydration as they lose water through sweating more than adults. Therefore, heat can have a more significant impact on children. Infants and toddlers are worse off as communicating thirst and its severity can be difficult for them,” explains Dr Sharma.
There is also a noticeable lack of toilets for women in the city. The days of intense heat trap the women from the informal workforce in a cycle of despair over water and toilets. Venkatachala is deeply aware of this issue in his neighbourhood. “Women are used to controlling their need to go to the toilet from the time they go to work to the time they return,” says Venkatachala.
For this, the women abstain from drinking water for long hours. Consequently, they suffer serious infections, and dehydration exacerbates the impacts of heat stress. “No one talks about such issues, and most women don’t know such behaviour could affect their health. Men can somehow manage, but women need more toilets,” he adds.
In the unequal world that we live in, the devastating impact of climate change is first being felt by the most vulnerable communities. Even in the global context, wealthy nations contribute to half of the greenhouse gases, while developing nations, like ours, deal with their impact.
This makes the marginalised in urban areas of developing countries, like women, children, and elderly in Venkatachala’s neighbourhood, among the first in the world to bear the full force of the climate crisis. “Our children struggle during the summers. They keep drinking water and don’t eat during the days when there is excess heat. Some elders just tie a cloth around their heads and go to work,” says Venkatachala.
The International Labour Organisation defines the concept of informal employment as all remunerative work that is not registered, regulated, or protected by existing legal or regulatory frameworks. Chakraborty, who has been studying heat stress in urban areas, noted that if the workers succumb to heat stress and are unable to report to work, they risk losing their daily wage or even their jobs, further pushing them into poverty.
Venkatachala predicts that the city will get hotter in the future. He insists on planting trees, reviving lakes, and developing villages.
The communities most affected by climate change also hold the wisdom needed to build resilient climate solutions.
Inclusive Decision-Making is the First Step
While addressing any crisis, our best bet is to build solutions with the people who are facing its consequences. They possess the experiences, intelligence, and perspectives that help subject experts, policymakers, and wider groups build robust solutions; and solutions built with a diverse group are likely to be accepted by a wider range of stakeholders. Inclusive decision-making is the first step to a just and inclusive climate transition.
Inclusivity lays the groundwork for empathy and transparency. It encourages all parties to take ownership of the decisions, conduct follow-ups, and provide proper feedback. Over time, the decisions get tested on various fronts and meaningful transformations are achieved.
“...our ordinary citizens, though occupied with the pursuits of industry, are still fair judges of public matters...” - Pericles The idea of including all stakeholders, specifically the citizens, in the decision-making procedure is time-tested. Precisely, since the 5th century when Athenian politician Pericles stated in his speech that,
In the 21st century, several governments and global institutions have returned their faith in the ability of ordinary citizens to deliberate and participate in decisions, formally calling the process deliberative democracy.Athenian Politician
Inspired from When the People Speak, Deliberative Democracy and Public Consultation by James S FishkinDeliberative Processes in Climate Policy
Deliberative democracy is an approach in which citizens, not just experts or decision-makers, are deeply involved in public decision-making and problem-solving. The Irish Citizens’ Assembly formed in 2016 is a notable example of democratic deliberation, in which citizen groups have influenced decisions ranging from issues related to abortion rights to climate change. France and the UK established citizens’ climate assemblies in 2019, Convention Citoyenne pour le Climat (CCC) and Climate Assembly UK (CAUK), respectively. Citizens in both assemblies contemplated climate-related issues and generated ambitious solutions.
International initiatives such as the Climate Dialogues organised by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) also facilitate consensus-building on climate action plans. The UN has also established Open Working Groups for an inclusive and transparent intergovernmental process on sustainable development goals. There are many examples and approaches.
Citizen Juries and Participatory Approaches
Citizen Juries believe that regular citizens have the conscience and intelligence to make the right decisions after thoughtful deliberation.
In vulnerable communities, participatory approaches are also used to develop climate mitigation and adaptation strategies. The concept of citizen juries and participatory development is also being tested in our country.
Citizens Will Decide | Citizen Jury
Socratus, an organisation working for citizen solutions, co-designed a Citizen Jury, where the tables were turned and citizens became jurors. A successful citizen jury was conducted in Chhattisgarh, where a courtroom-like proceeding was held to discuss the hardships faced by migrant workers during the nationwide Covid-19 lockdown.
Representatives of civil society, government, and the business community presented their ideas and statements to the jury. The jury consisted of 18 citizens working in informal professions such as tailors, domestic helpers, brick kiln labourers, and so on. They passed a verdict and shared it with the state’s chief minister. Today, suggestions from the verdict have been adopted in framing policies for migrant workers in Chhattisgarh. Socratus is working towards organising a citizen's court on issues related to climate change and irresponsible land use in Bengaluru.
One of the primary beliefs that we hold at Socratus is that wicked problems require wicked minds to solve them, and no one entity can solve the problem that we have today.Program Associate at Socratus.- Smriti Tiwari
From Margins to Mainstream | Alli Serona Bus Stop
For the women of Bengaluru’s Hosanagar, a bus stop in their area is vital access to opportunities—employment prospects, educational attainment, and regular healthcare—crucial for a better life. The Alli Serona collective, which is working towards increasing the participation of women from the informal sector in decision-making, employed a participatory approach and co-created an art installation of a bus stop with the women. The installation was a modular and mobile structure that toured four locations in the city.
It garnered city-wide attention from stakeholders, brought hundreds of visitors, and initiated a conversation about transportation and climate change. But the most remarkable achievement of the Alli Serona Bus Stop installation was the optimism and confidence it instilled in the women to take their mobility needs to the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC).
Today, two of the five bus routes proposed by the women have been accepted by the BMTC. The two routes pass through Seegehalli near Priyanka Nagar, Venkatachala’s neighbourhood. Buses now operate on these routes and benefit over 3000 families.
We Just Have to Believe
A UN report states that by 2050, India will have added 41.6 crore people to its urban areas. Megacities like Bengaluru will be accommodating a substantial share of this number. The majority of them will be informal workers, like Venkatachala. Our cities are grossly unprepared for this imminent future.
As of today, our urban informal workforce subsists in congested settlements, some without amenities as basic as drinking water. They endure repeated exposure to extreme climatic events, like heat waves and floods. The impacts of climate change are bound to get more intense and frequent in the future. For our informal workforce, a lot is at stake.
The most practical and meaningful solutions to climate change can only come from the most climate-affected pockets of our cities. Including the lived experiences, intelligence, and wisdom of the marginalised and vulnerable in the decision-making processes is the way to create resilient climate solutions.
Inclusivity in climate decision-making means including the Venkatachalas of our cities in citizens’ climate assemblies, citizen juries, and deliberative processes. It means adopting participatory approaches and building local, people-centred climate solutions with them. We have many frameworks at the city, country, and global levels. A lot of them have shown promise. Climate change is not an insurmountable challenge if we just believe in our collective wisdom.
Our field researcher, Janet Orlene, visited the informal settlements in Bengaluru and engaged with the residents there to understand the spectrum of issues faced due to extreme heat. She engaged in in-depth conversations and collected the personal stories of the people. The Association for Promoting Social Action (APSA) convened gatherings with informal workers in Bengaluru, facilitating interview sessions for Orlene's research. We also consulted a repository of research and reports on heat waves on the Indian continent by leading organisations around the world. Debdatta Chakraborty, research scholar at the interdisciplinary programme in climate studies, Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, was our subject expert. She is studying the effect of heat on informal workers in Indian cities.
What was our process?
This story is an effort towards understanding the depths of vulnerability in a world grappling with a changing climate. We turned our lens towards the city of Bengaluru to understand the effect of heat on the informal workforce.
Doctor Parth Sharma, a public health physician and researcher, explained the medical implications of rising heat on the human body.
Smriti Tiwari from Socratus and Tanisha Arora from Alli Serona generously shared their notes and analysis on conducting citizen juries and participatory art practices to strengthen inclusive decision-making.
We also thank Rama Thoopal, Lead — Communications Expert and Raj Bhagat, GeoAnalytics from WRI India for their support. The maps used in this story are taken from a working paper by WRI India, titled, Urban Blue-Green Conundrum: A 10-City Study on the Impacts of Urbanization on Natural Infrastructure in India. Team
Tanisha Arora - Creative Director
Komal Chaudhry - Project Manager
Preksha Sharma - Writer & Editor
Ahmed Sikander - Visual & Animation Designer
Mumbai on Web & Jeet Mashru - Web Developer
Bangalore Recording Company - Audio Producer & Sound Design
Honey Raza - English Voice Artist
Swaroop KS - Kannada Voice Artist
The article is curated and produced by Alli Serona, a collective of civil society organisations, think tanks, artists, creators, and informal workforce members, who are dedicated to transforming Bengaluru into a #PeopleFirstCity where the voices, needs, and priorities of the workers and residents living on the margins are not only heard but are central to the city’s design, planning, and development.Mandira Kalaan, Mallika Arya, Nitish Dorle & Mrinalini - Advisors
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