#dnaEdit: Feeling the heat

The scorching summer has claimed at least 500 lives in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana so far, most of whom are daily-wage earners whose work exposes them for long hours to an unsparing sun. Though a strong heatwave in the two states has sent the mercury soaring, with the average temperature breaching the 45-degree-Celsius mark, deaths due to extreme rise and fall in temperatures are fairly common in India. The intense cold wave in Delhi and other north Indian villages, towns and cities in December and January often turns fatal, especially for the elderly and the economically disadvantaged sections.

The rising number of deaths has jolted the Andhra administration, with Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu urging TDP ministers, MLAs and workers to offer chilled drinking water and buttermilk to the people to prevent dehydration on a mass scale. Naidu has also announced compensation of Rs1 lakh to the nearest kin of the deceased, to demonstrate his government’s pro-poor leanings. Given the sizzling heat, there could be more deaths in the offing, even as both the states have issued warnings to people to stay indoors between noon and 4pm. For those doing menial jobs for a livelihood, it’s a luxury not to venture out during the day. Staying indoors will rob them of a day’s wage leaving their families starving. And, since many of them are homeless, there is no escape from the sun. 

It’s, perhaps, unsurprising that a society rooted in inequalities allows such deaths to happen every year; where the victims belong to the lowest rung. The 2011 Census data show that percentage-wise, there has been a decrease in the population of the homeless — from 0.19% in 2001 to 0.15% in 2011. Even then, 1.77 million people in this country do not have a home, spending the nights on footpaths, railway platforms and under flyovers.

This section, malnourished and with no access to health care, is most vulnerable in summer and winter. The stark disparities are most visible in urban India where dazzling wealth and destitution exist, side-by-side. A 2011 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development study observed that income disparities have doubled in India in the 20 years preceding the report, with a growing concentration of wealth among the rich and powerful. The same report highlighted the Indian government’s reluctance to increase spending on social schemes — allocating only 5% of its GDP for the welfare of the poor. Compare that with the Forbes 2015 list, which features a record 90 Indian billionaires with a combined net worth of a staggering $295 billion. 

Given the insurmountable gap between the rich and the poor, India’s march towards progress and prosperity has benefited only a tiny proportion of its population. Where inequalities institutionalised by the system have only grown deeper, housing for the poor can only be poll rhetoric and not a priority of the state and central governments. The Maharashtra government’s latest housing initiative for the poor will add 1.5 lakh homes under the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA), with a built-up area of 500 sq feet for each flat. But, SRA schemes have always been mired in financial controversies, benefiting the builders, public servants and political leaders more than the truly deserving. 

The deaths in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana once gain confirm that India is perhaps farthest from achieving inclusive growth. Be it blistering heat or biting cold, people will continue to die in the open — helpless and uncared for, and abandoned by those who have sworn to protect the most vulnerable sections of the population.