Another recent study also found that heatwave deaths are divided along caste lines – more people belonging to marginalised communities died in India from exposure to heat than people from other communities. This is a kind of “thermal injustice”, researchers who work on the study say. https://thewire.in/environment/thermal-injustice-20000-indians-died-in-heatwaves-in-20-years-caste-a-key-factor
“We believe that the government should consider offering some form of social support to outdoor workers, particularly low-income workers and those on a daily wage, who may feel they have no option but to turn up to work, whatever the temperature is,” commented Nandita Bhan, a co-author of the study and professor at the Jindal School of Public Health and Human Development at the O.P Jindal Global University, in a press release.
They found that people from dominant castes spent 27-28% of their working time outdoors, whereas people belonging to the Scheduled Tribes (ST) communities spent 43-49% of their working hours doing such work. Together, people belonging to both the Scheduled Castes (SC) and ST communities spent more than 75% of their working hours outdoors in at least 65 districts across the country over the two years.
“These strong associations between caste, occupation, and heat stress exposure are best described as “thermal injustice”, the study noted.
23/05/2025