In the Sunder Nagri slum of north-east Delhi, 40 households are participating in a project to document their daily struggle against the city’s intensifying heatwaves. The initiative, which asks residents to maintain a “garmi khata” or heat registry, aims to move beyond meteorological data by capturing the lived experiences of those most vulnerable to rising temperatures.
For 39-year-old Gulshan, the heat is a constant, exhausting battle. To help her four children sleep, she washes the floor of their one-room home each evening. Despite purchasing a desert cooler, the family still relies on dampening their clothes to stay cool. This practice has led to skin rashes and infections for her and her children. “I feel relieved that at least somebody might read my family’s experiences,” she says.
The project, supported by Greenpeace India, seeks to empower residents to become their own storytellers. Aakiz Farooq, a senior campaigner at the group, explained that the team wanted to gather personal evidence and testimonies. Researcher Nibedita Saha noted that while satellite data exists, the human element—what people feel and experience—is often missing from official heat action plans.
Urban planner Aravind Unni emphasizes that heat impacts vary significantly based on factors like income, gender, and occupation. In Sunder Nagri, residents mapped local heat indices and discovered that some streets, including those where 21-year-old vegetable vendor Raja works, reached ground temperatures exceeding 54C (129F). Raja, who has seen his income drop as customers avoid the heat, now sleeps on his roof to escape the stifling conditions inside his home.
The diaries also highlight the struggles of students like 19-year-old Arshi, who shares a single room with five family members. She often seeks refuge in her college library’s air-conditioned space to escape the humidity, which can push “feels-like” temperatures to 36.3C (97F) even when ambient air temperatures are lower. These journals, covering daily routines and health, provide a comprehensive look at life in cramped, poorly ventilated urban spaces.
Satellite analysis confirms the disparity in heat exposure across the capital. Research from India Today found that land-surface temperatures in the south-west district of Mahipalpur reached nearly 44C, while the affluent suburb of Vasant Kunj, just 3km away, recorded temperatures around 37C.
The project organizers have submitted these diaries to India’s National Human Rights Commission, advocating for extreme heat to be recognized as a human rights issue. Unni argues that while these diaries are valuable for policy, a significant hurdle remains: Indian cities currently lack the infrastructure and administrative capacity for decentralized action.
Looking ahead, the team plans to present these testimonies to policymakers and MPs to push for targeted protections. They are also working to frame these accounts as evidence for potential lawsuits, citing a 2024 Supreme Court ruling that established protection from the adverse impacts of the climate crisis as part of the right to life.
On 4 August, the Indian government officially added heatwaves to its list of nationally notified disasters. This change allows states to access emergency relief funds, a move that Unni and Farooq hope will eventually support community-led initiatives and provide compensation for those most affected by the rising heat. The report also notes that e very summer evening, Gulshan follows the same routine. The report also notes that last summer, the family saved enough to buy a desert cooler, which uses evaporation as a cheaper alternative to air conditioning. The report also notes that the family uses the appliance cautiously to save on energy costs. The report also notes that but even when it is on, Gulshan, who does not use a surname, has to dampen everyone’s clothes before sleeping. The report also notes that cities across India have begun drawing up heat action plans – agreements formulated by a municipality or district administration on how to prepare for and respond to extreme heat, over the last few years. The report also notes that there are still significant gaps in information on people, making it difficult to understand how heat is experienced differently across communities, while some incorporate data such as satellite-derived land surface temperatures to identify heat hotspots. The report also notes that arshi, 19, who lives in one room with five other family members, is a distance-learning student at Delhi University. The report also notes that she makes about 150 rupees (£1.17) working with her mother and sister for a day.
