Death By Heat Wave: Gods And Government Abandon India's Poor

NEW DELHI: The construction labourer, the beggar, the homeless, the poor elders have been killed by the heat wave sweeping Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar, Orissa and other states of northern India. The official count places the dead at 1100, but the figures are rising with no help---either from the gods or the government---in sight.

The weather forecast keeps the temperatures hovering around 45 degrees C for at least another five days, with the poorest of the poor falling to the heat like flies. The statistics, rising by the day, have failed to impress the governments for whom these deaths fall in the category of natural disaster that lets the ruling elite off the hook.

Andhra Pradesh and Telangana together account for over 800 of the deaths. Guntur district alone, in AP, has seen 104 deaths so far.

Cooling himself on the railway tracks

Apart from banal directives such as ‘do not venture out’, ‘wear lose clothing’ the affected state governments have little to offer the vulnerable sections of the population. The poorest of the poor are left to fend for themselves, with no effort to set up shelters with drinking water for the labourers and the homeless who are dying of dehydration. Medical camps have not been provided to deal with those who have been directly hit by the heat, with the poor of India left to fend for themselves with meagre resources and in many cases, with no access to potable drinking water.

Poor farmers are also facing the brunt of the heat, with the statistics compiled so far placing them in the vulnerable groups as well. The centre has not responded to the large number of deaths, despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pledge to serve the farmers and the poor while inaugurating Doordarshan’s (state owned television) Kisan (farmers) Channel. This has been done to counter the growing perception that the government is anti-farmer.

Trying to beat the heat

Construction labourers who are driven to work in the burning heat by unscrupulous contractors, form a bulk of those dead. Those living without shelter in an India obsessed with growth and not reality on the ground, have fallen prey to the heat with the direct sun, the absence of shelter, water and food making them particularly vulnerable.

Poverty figures of India have not lifted despite the promises made by governments when they come to power, be it at the centre or the states. Over 60 percent of the population---the figures vary according to the economists but this remains the average agreed upon---is without three meals a day, living on sub-standard nutrition that does not give them even the minimum calories required.

Doctors spoken to by The Citizen point out that it is important to be sheltered from the heat; to have adequate drinking water; to be healthy with sufficient food available to fortify the body against the heat wave. The 1100 killed so far, with the count still rising, belong to the India that is not included in the plan of growth and development, and hence lacks the basic minimum to protect itself from the soaring temperatures.

Red Box warnings have been issued to Odisha, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh which basically warns of higher heat by the heat as they live in conditions that defy belief. The construction workers usually live near the sites where they are working, if so allowed, by putting up pieces of cloth as a shelter that does not protect them from either the sun or the rain; the beggars and the homeless sleep on pavements, exposed to the weather in all its extremes; they eat infrequently and do not have access to a regular supply of water.

Is that shelter enough for a poor farmer walking the parched fields in Odisha?

There has not been a word about their plight by the central government celebrating its first year in power, or by the national opposition criticising the government on its one year in power. The state governments are toting up the statistics without even a plan to help mitigate the suffering of the poor, and provide them with the minimum facilities to help them escape the heat and probable death.