Vulnerable to rise in temperature, India needs to take heatwave seriously

Extreme heat is already killing more people than reported. By 2030, it could also result in productivity loss equivalent to 34 million jobs, writes Bhasker Tripathi

India counts among heat stroke deaths only those deaths medically certified as having been caused by direct exposure to the sun, thereby capturing only 10 per cent of the real figure, leaving out deaths due to high ambient temperature. Accurate reporting is essential to create informed policies to build resilience, at a time when India is grappling with increasingly intense and frequent heat waves and is vulnerable to rising temperatures due to climate change, experts say.

Heatwaves killed about 6,167 people in India over eight years to 2018. Of that, government records show, 34 per cent (2,081 deaths) were in 2015,