How official heat plans are failing India’s street vendors

“Khatron ke khiladi” – a player who flirts with danger. That’s among the terms that vendors in Pune who brave heat stress on the streets through the oppressive summer months use to describe themselves. Others deploy the rather-more self-deprecatory “roadvarche”’ – Marathi for “those on the road”.

These epithets were not expressions of pride or choice, but acknowledgements of their profound vulnerability in the era of global warming, said a report titled Rising Temperatures Silent Suffering: Lived Experiences of Heat Stress and Its Impact on Health among Street Vendors released by Pune’s Prayas (Health Group) in April.

The informal workers were recognising the fact that they fall outside official protective frameworks, that their lives are defined by exposure to the heat and a lack of institutional safety nets.

In addition to facing the constant threat of fines and eviction, global warming has added to their risks. As the study found, Pune’s street vendors – like their counterparts across the country – have limited access to drinking water, toilets, shade and public healthcare.

The Prayas (Health Group) study, conducted on 385 vendors in the summer of 2025, said that while official heat action plans do mention street vendors and other vulnerable groups, they fail to provide provisions that mitigate the challenges they face in daily life.

Vendors understood that they did not have a job with protections and rights, but instead were part of a constant, high-stakes game where their bodies were the currency being gambled, the study indicated.

Until recently, Pune was known for its mild weather. But an analysis over the past five decades shows that the district has experienced a sharp rise in daytime and nighttime heat stress during the last decade, Prayas noted. This year, temperatures breached 40 degree Celsius on several days.

However, they did not typically categorise heat effects as “illness”, the study said. Rather, they framed heat impacts as “unhaali tras” (discomfort) or “normal heat effects” expected to street vending work.

The normalisation of heat stress reflects the helplessness of venors in dealing with the situation, said Vjaya Jori and Ritu Parchure, who were part of the research team that conducted the Indian Council of Medical Research and Rohini Nilekani Philanthropies-supported study.

While most vendors reported that they had “no trouble with heat”, the majority had experienced mild dehydration. Many reported a range of health symptoms which reflected moderate to severe heat stress.

Limited options

Some vendors developed high blood pressure and dizziness and felt weak and a persistent lethargy. Others experienced severe impacts and could not work for a month due to heat exposure.

By comparison, reporting of complaints (symptoms generally considered as moderate), such as headaches, cramps, and dizziness, was higher among those who perceived heat as “somewhat troublesome”. The group that perceived heat as “very troublesome”, reported complaints including cardiovascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal issues.

Vendors, especially women, often drank less water, as toilet facilities were hard to come by and available toilets were filthy and unusable.

But even if it gets too hot, the vendors cannot even take the day or else they will lose a day’s earnings. They had no insurance and since public health facilities were poor, they relied on private doctors. Most of them were the sole earners in their families. There was anxiety about the future and many feared going hungry if they stopped working.

One of the main structural gaps the study identified was the way heat health advisories were being communicated, Jori said. For instance, some advised them not to go out in the afternoon, which was not an option.

Heat advisories have to be tailored to specific contexts and it cannot come only when there is a heat wave, she said.

The survey results also found heat-stress experiences at night. At home, nights offered little relief from the heat. About 14% of vendors lived in houses entirely made of metal sheets, while another 24% had homes with metal sheet roofing. Almost all households owned ceiling fans. About 18% had invested in air coolers as nighttime heat had become unbearable in recent years.

Systematic failure

Vendors’ narratives repeatedly attributed heat stress not only to environmental conditions but also to a systematic failure by public governance authorities to recognise them as worthy of protection or even acknowledgement, the study found.

The study noted that street vendors’ heat and health vulnerabilities were fundamentally structural problems arising from the absence of workplace protections, occupational health coverage, and infrastructure in the built environment. This requires policy responses that extend social protection to informal workers, grounding heat action planning in vendors’ lived experiences, and adapting to urban spaces to climate change.

Of course, it isn’t only street vendors who are facing the brunt of climate change. A United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and World Meteorological Organization report published in April states that rising temperatures, prolonged heatwaves, and shifting climate patterns are already disrupting crop yields, livestock health, water availability, and rural livelihoods – with impacts falling disproportionately on the most vulnerable.

The heat in the subcontinent is here to stay, says a new study by World Weather Attribution.

Scientists from the organisation who analysed data from the recent heatwave in April and May in both India and Pakistan concluded that such heat was no longer extreme and it could be expected every years.

In late April and early May, the World Weather Attribution said that India and Pakistan experienced a period of extremely high temperatures, with daily maximums exceeding 46°C in several cities, causing at least 37 heat-related deaths in India and ten in Karachi, Pakistan.

Human-caused climate change approximately tripled the probability of events like this occurring: in the last decade, similar events have become about 35% more likely. Heat on this scale is now likely to occur once every five years.

“What used to be rare heat in South Asia is now a regular reality,” said Mariam Zachariah, one of the study authors and Research Associate in Extreme Weather and Climate Change, Imperial College London, in a statement.

Social inequalities

She said what was most concerning is that the research shows that the hot pre-monsoon period is becoming both hotter and longer, meaning people are now facing extreme heat for a much greater portion of the year.

Importantly, the report points to the fact that heatwaves expose deep social inequalities, with outdoor workers and those in uncooled housing most vulnerable as the Pune study corroborates.

“Expanding social protection and including heatwaves as a notified disaster could facilitate essential disaster relief funding to enhance a comprehensive response,” said Roop Singh, Head of Urban and Attribution, Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, another author of the study.

The more frequent spells of intense heat make it clear that policy interventions are needed to upgrade public services and basic amenities for vendors and others in the unorganised sector. They also underscore the imperative to phase out of fossil fuels.

Meena Menon, PhD, University of Leeds, is an independent journalist, researcher and author.