India's Climate Crisis and Urban Poor

OutlookIndia

Outlook visits Delhi's Batla House, Hazrat Nizamuddin station area, Sarai Kale Khan Basti, and Geeta Colony to explore the impact of climate change on the urban poor. Through conversations, we uncover how heatwaves affect their daily lives. Many attribute climate change to rapid urbanisation and felling of trees. They also share how, along with the intense and prolonged heat wave which that had to endure this summer, factors like severe water scarcity and no electricity for a couple of hours every day added to their misery.   Reporter: Swati Subhedar & Apeksha Priyadarshini  Videographer: Divya Tiwari & Animikh Chakrabarty  Editor/Producer: Divya Tiwari   Follow us:  Website: https://www.outlookindia.com/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Outlookindia  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/outlookindia/  X: https://twitter.com/Outlookindia  Whatsapp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaNrF3v0AgWLA6OnJH0R  Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@OutlookMagazine  Dailymotion: https://www.dailymotion.com/outlookindia   #Delhi #ClimateChange #UrbanPoor #Heatwaves #RapidUrbanisation #WaterScarcity #JamiaNagar #GeetaColony #HazratNizamuddin

Transcript

00:00Climate change.

00:08People say the sun has set.

00:12It's going to come to earth.

00:14That's what people are saying.

00:16I think the sun has set.

00:20It was very hot, it was very hot, I had to work very hard to raise the kids.

00:34The water wasn't even flowing.

00:36The water wasn't flowing?

00:37Yes, it was so hot.

00:40The water should have flowed more.

00:42When a person is not aware of the heat,

00:45if he gets wet, how will he get up?

00:48If it's too hot, they stop selling water.

00:53They sell fruits and vegetables.

00:55In my family, my uncle is an S.T.A.R.

00:58He gets a heart attack because of the heat.

01:06But this year, it's very hot.

01:08I've had a heart attack this summer.

01:11My wife has had one.

01:13It's a heart attack.

01:18The water is very problematic, ma'am.

01:24It's been a year and a half, and the water is so problematic

01:26that it's black mud, gutter water.

01:30We've complained many times, but no one listens.

01:34The heat is worse because of the ACOs.

01:36There are ACOs in every car here in Delhi.

01:39There's a lot of traffic.

01:40The ACOs of the people who have their own houses are getting affected.

01:43We are tenants, we can't pay the bills, we don't have that much.

01:47The ACOs' heat comes from outside.

01:50Now that the streets are closed, they can't go here.

01:52They enter the rooms.

01:56I've been working with Agra for many years,

01:58but I keep getting sick from time to time.

02:01I feel like it's getting hotter and hotter.

02:04If someone has a cold or a fever,

02:08they'll feel dizzy.

02:11I sleep in the AC.

02:12Sometimes I sleep in this lane, sometimes in that lane.

02:15When the AC is turned off, the heat comes from outside.

02:23I work in a station.

02:25The labourers are running away because of the heat.

02:27There's no water or toilet here.

02:30The heat is making the labourers very ill.

02:34There are a lot of problems here.

02:35There's a railway tender here.

02:38All the goods go inside the train.

02:40We sell cartons.

02:42There are thousands of labourers working here, day and night.

02:46The government should make arrangements for the labourers,

02:47for water, toilet, everything.

02:51It's very hot this time.

02:54The temperature is 45, 50, 47 degrees.

02:59There were some problems with the electricity in the summer.

03:02For example, if it was cut off at night, it didn't last two hours.

03:06If it was cut off during the day,

03:08it lasted for an hour or two.

03:12The government should think about this.

03:14The government is doing everything on its own.

03:17It's not doing anything for us.

03:20The government should have thought about this.

03:23If the trees are cut down, the weather will be just as hot.

03:27The trees should not be cut down.

Category

Transcript

Recommended