Copyright infringement not intended

Context:

In April 2025, Delhi saw record-breaking temperatures, reflecting a new climate reality. As Indian cities heat up, it is the informal workers who suffer the most—they are unprotected, but are necessary for daily urban life.

Informal Workers and Urban Heat Stress

Role of Informal Workers in Urban Economies

• Informal workers, including construction labourers, street vendors, waste pickers, gig workers, and rickshaw pullers, are integral to the urban economy.
  
  
• These groups ensure the uninterrupted functioning of essential services in cities.
  
  

Invisibility in Policy Frameworks

• Despite their economic contributions, informal workers remain largely invisible in climate adaptation and urban planning.
  
  
• They lack institutional recognition and formal social security protections.
  
  

Heat Stress and Its Economic Impact

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in 2024, projected a 4.5% potential loss to India’s GDP due to the impact of extreme heat on occupational health and productivity.
  
  
• Informal workers, being occupationally exposed, are the most affected by heatwaves and rising urban temperatures.
  
  

Vulnerability of Urban Informal Workforce

• Informal workers often operate in open, unshaded, and poorly ventilated environments.
  
  
• They face heightened risks of heat-related illnesses, reduced work hours, and income loss.
  
  

Lack of Inclusion in Planning & Response

• Current climate resilience strategies and urban response mechanisms largely exclude informal workers.
  
  
• This exclusion not only exacerbates their vulnerability but can also lead to fatal consequences during heat waves.

Key gaps in the current Heat Action Plans for informal workers

• Lack of Specific Focus on Informal Workers: Most heat action plans fail to identify or address the unique requirements of informal workers. For example, the NDMA's 2019 heatwave guidelines reference "outdoor workers" vaguely, but do not include particular measures for vendors, construction workers, or rubbish pickers.
• Absence of occupational safety protocols: There are no safeguards for proper working hours, rest breaks, water, or an emergency reaction to heat stress. For example, state-level HAPs frequently do not require rest periods or shaded locations for individuals working in the sun, whereas Odisha requires a halt to outdoor work during peak heat hours.
• Short-term and crisis-oriented planning: Most HAPs are only activated during the summer months, and there are no long-term solutions for dealing with repeating heat waves. For example, city-level HAPs, such as those in Delhi, focus on raising public awareness during heat alerts but do not invest in permanent cooling facilities.
• Inadequate Department Coordination: Ministries and departments (Labour, Urban Affairs, and Health) operate in silos, resulting in disconnected activities. For example, urban development plans rarely engage labour departments, resulting in the exclusion of worker welfare components such as cooling shelters at work locations.
• No Budgetary Provision or Worker Participation: The majority of HAPs are underfunded and developed without the involvement of worker collectives or unions. For example, many cities do not allocate funding or consult with informal worker organisations, unlike Ahmedabad, which has a more inclusive practice of adjusting work hours and creating shaded rest spots.

What is HAP? Heat Action Plan aims to provide a framework for implementation, coordination and evaluation of extreme heat response activities that reduces the negative impact of heat waves.

Where should cooling zones be built to maximise worker benefits?

• High-Density Work Areas: Set up cooling zones where informal workers are concentrated and exposed to heat. For example, labour chowks, construction sites, and industrial zones are places where daily wage labourers assemble and work outdoors.
• Public transport hubs and markets: Busy sites with significant wait times or high foot traffic provide strategic relief stations. Examples include bus stops, metro exits, and wholesale markets where street sellers and rickshaw pullers operate.
• Slum Clusters and Informal Settlements: Establish community cooling centres where workers live in poorly ventilated, heat-trapping conditions. For example, in urban slums without trees or open areas, indoor heat stress is significant at night and in the afternoon.

Way Forward: Key Interventions

Update National Guidelines

• Revise NDMA framework to:
  
  

• Include informal labour categories (e.g., vendors, construction workers, sanitation staff).
  
  
• Define heat-safe working hours, rest breaks, water access, and emergency protocols.
  

Ensure Worker Participation in Policy Design

• Involve trade unions, welfare boards, and worker collectives in HAP planning.
  
  
• Establish local civil society coordination groups to integrate lived worker experiences.
  
  

Guarantee Right to Shade, Rest, and Cooling

• Create shaded rest zones, cooling shelters, and hydration points at:
  
  
• Markets, construction sites, waste zones, and transport hubs.
  
  
• Ensure these are gender-sensitive, inclusive, and community-managed.
  
  

Promote Innovative and Inclusive Financing

• Leverage:
  
  
• CSR funds, municipal budgets, and community support.
  
  
• Expand health insurance coverage to include heat-related illnesses among informal workers.
  
  
• Invest in climate-adaptive infrastructure like:
  
  
• Cool roofs, shaded walkways, and passive ventilation systems.
  
  

Embed Heat Resilience into Urban Planning

Integrate into Urban Development Frameworks

• Mandate heat safety norms in:
  
  
• Master plans, building bye-laws, zoning rules, and public infrastructure projects.
  
  

Retrofit Informal Workspaces

• Upgrade labour hubs, vendor zones, and waste collection points with:
  
  
• Reflective roofs, shade nets, water stations, and thermal insulation.
  
  

Promote Nature-Based Solutions

• Develop urban forests, blue networks (lakes, ponds), and shaded pedestrian corridors.
  
  

Strengthen Institutional Coordination

National-Level Task Force

• Form an inter-ministerial task force integrating:
  
  
• Ministries of Urban Development, Health, Labour, and Environment.
  
  
• Prepare a national roadmap linking worker safety with climate resilience.
  
  

City-Level Heat Officers

• Appoint dedicated heat officers at municipal levels to:
  
  
• Coordinate implementation, ensure accountability, and lead cross-departmental responses.
  
  

Practice Question Q. Bring out the causes for the formation of heat islands in the urban habitat of the world. (250 words)