By Ananya Tiwary and Apekshita Varshney, Project Associates, HeatWatch, Maharashtra, India

Extreme heat is a silent disaster, impacting those who are least able to protect themselves the most.

Heat has already led to major, far-reaching consequences for India’s labour force. The Lancet Countdown’s 2025 India data estimates that, in 2024, people in India were exposed to an average of 19.8 heatwave days, and heat exposure led to the loss of 247 billion potential labour hours, 124% higher than the 1990–1999 baseline (Romanello et al., 2025). The associated potential income loss from reduced labour capacity was estimated at US$194 billion in 2024 (Romanello et al., 2025).

However, such macro-level estimates cannot fully explain how different worker groups are exposed to heat differently, what occupational safeguards are missing, how heat is impacting different workers’ health and to what extent. Through conducting worker-centric research, HeatWatch, an India-based non-profit working at the intersection of heat, public health and labour, documents the lived experience through which heat affects health, income and dignity of workers. HeatWatch has conducted research with gig workers, construction workers, Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs), waste workers, garment workers, and exposed critical data gaps in national heatstroke fatality counts in 2024 and 2025. We found that in 2024 alone, India had over 700 suspected heatstroke deaths — a figure that might be much higher than the official toll.

HeatWatch’s research places workers’ experiences and recommendations at the centre, recognising workers not only as custodians of knowledge but also as agents of change in shaping policy and employer action. Such evidence can strengthen guidelines such as heat action plans by going beyond generic advisories towards occupation-specific and gender-sensitive interventions. For instance, in the context of construction and waste workers, mandatory rest breaks and work hours rescheduling are important interventions; while for indoor garment workers, improved ventilation and reduced production targets would be necessary steps. However, such workplace measures must be backed by stronger social protection, as climate impacts deepen existing vulnerabilities such as unstable wages and limited access to social security benefits.

In April 2026, HeatWatch and the Indian Federation of App-Based Transport Workers reached a key milestone by getting a letter signed and submitted to the Ministry of Labour and Employment, seeking mandatory heatwave protections for gig workers. The letter sought mandatory heatwave protections for gig workers under the Code on Social Security, 2020, and was a positive development towards framing actionable heat-resilient policies for workers.

HeatWatch has also tried to make heat inequality visible in innovative ways. Our heat dashboard, developed in collaboration with Open Supply Hub, connects heat and humidity data with garment production facilities across India, helping identify where workers and supply chains are most exposed. Further, our ongoing initiative to map cooling centres across India responds to another basic gap: cooling infrastructure cannot serve vulnerable communities unless made accessible to its intended users.

Citizen-led monitoring and research must therefore become central to India’s response to extreme heat. It is the starting point from which we can generate robust evidence essential to demonstrate the true magnitude of the crisis, as well as frame bottom-up policies that address the unique challenges faced by vulnerable groups due to extreme heat.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this piece are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of AIDMI.