A couple of years ago Noor Jehan was working at a construction site as a mason’s helper when she got a phone call. Her husband – a rickshaw puller – had fainted while ferrying a man in his vehicle, succumbing to the sweltering sun and an empty stomach. This was not a one off. ‘Throughout summer, he keeps fainting,’ she says. ‘Someone calls from his phone then we go and get him.’
India – home to 1.4 billion people – has been getting hotter every year and the poor have been bearing the brunt. Many work in outdoor jobs, such as on construction sites, or are homeless and live in makeshift housing making them particularly vulnerable to the extreme heat.
