‘Even if we faint from the heat, they make us work': How Delhi's informal workforce bears brunt of climate crisis

Indian Express

01-05-2025

From working in the bustling lanes of Lal Qila Market, the garbage-strewn alleys of Seemapuri, the cramped, poorly ventilated kitchens of Govindpuri, to the crowded, sweltering spaces of Kashmere Gate, Delhi's informal workforce bears the burden of a worsening climate crisis.
A report by Greenpeace India, which is part of a global environmental NGO, and the Workers' Collective for Climate Justice South Asia, titled 'Labouring through the Climate Crisis', based on fieldwork throughout 2024, paints a grim picture of vendors, waste pickers, domestic workers, and rickshaw pullers in these neighbourhoods.
The study reveals how heatwaves, floods, and pollution are slashing incomes, endangering health, and pushing many into chronic debt. It also documents the 'physically punishing experience' of working in these environments.
Led by researcher Shalaka Chauhan, the study involved hour-long focus group discussions with 40 informal workers and interviews with sectoral activists for an external perspective.
The report finds that workers are adapting their routines to survive extreme weather, but often at a high personal cost. Street vendors and rickshaw pullers have begun working during early mornings or late nights to avoid peak heat, but this adjustment brings exhaustion, health risks, and reduced income. 'By 11 am, the sun feels like it's piercing through the skin,' one street vendor said. Another added, 'By evening, our feet are swollen, and we can't even feel our toes properly.'
Domestic workers in Govindpuri face a combination of heat stress and poor working conditions. 'While cooking, they [employers] turn off the fan, and it becomes unbearable,' a worker said, as per the report. Another described the absence of rest: 'Even if we faint from the heat, they still make us work.'
Commuting to work has become more dangerous and tiring: 'We live far away now because our previous settlement was demolished… It takes me 45 minutes to an hour, but we still go to the same houses,' said another worker, as cited in the report.
Key findings from the study underscore seven major climate-related risks:
1. Climate crisis restructuring informal labour economies: This means informal workers are reshaping their workdays. 'Street vendors and rickshaw pullers shift to pre-dawn or late-night hours to avoid peak heat, leading to sleep deprivation and exhaustion,' the report stated, adding that women vendors and waste pickers 'lose family time and rest' due to extended hours and storage concerns.
2. Informal incomes becoming climate-volatile: Climate crisis is making costs unmanageable. 'Street vendors still pay Rs 100 a day in bribes, Rs 400 for transport, and Rs 6,000-plus a month in fees, but now earn as little as Rs 300 a day due to heatwaves, compared to Rs 1,200 on normal days,' it noted.
3. Unequal access to urban infrastructure: Street vendors are squeezed into sidewalks, busy intersections, or flood-prone streets. Makeshift shade structures such as tarpaulins, which are part of coping mechanisms, are 'now confiscated as 'encroachments'. The report pointed out a lack of cooling zones for rickshaw pullers. On the shutdown of local segregation centres (dhalaos), women waste pickers are forced to segregate waste in cramped homes or sun-scorched corners, it added.
4. Health impact escalating: Climate exposure is driving a 'silent public health emergency', as vendors and waste pickers report fainting, infections, and chronic fatigue. On the other hand, domestic workers suffer from dehydration, dizziness, rashes and heatstroke; joint pain affects rickshaw pullers.
5. Intensifying gendered impact on climate disaters: For women, work extends into unpaid labour involving cooking, caregiving, water collection and cleaning roles, adding to stress.
6. Climate extremes triggering debt and destitution: A single day of heavy rain or heatwave can affect footfall, forcing urgent restocking. There is limited access to formal credit, forcing reliance on informal lending networks borrowed at higher interest rates. The debt is compounding before the possibility of recovery through earnings, the report noted.
7. Green transitions excluding the poorest: Eco-friendly initiatives like e-rickshaws and formal material recovery facilities are inaccessible to many workers. 'Those who have money will buy e-rickshaws and get licences. For us, we neither have a home nor land; we just earn and eat here,' said a rickshaw puller, as per the report. Waste pickers are excluded from new recycling models, losing access to recyclables.
Despite the challenges, the report notes that workers are forming informal resilience networks. Waste pickers share collection tips and protective gear. Vendors and pullers support each other during extreme weather and negotiate collectively for work concessions. Yet, the report states, these networks are 'precarious and invisible, lacking the formal support they desperately need'.
To address these challenges, the report recommends legal recognition of all four worker groups in relevant labour and environmental policies; inclusion of informal workers in disaster management and heat action plans; declaring heatwaves as notified disasters under the National Disaster Management Authority; and the creation of a 'Loss and Damage Fund' to compensate workers for income lost to extreme weather.
It further calls for improved public infrastructure, including shaded vending zones, drinking water stations, cooling shelters, and sanitation facilities; the revival of dhalaos with adequate protection and sanitation; the distribution of protective equipment at low or no cost; formal representation of workers in urban planning processes through strengthened Town Vending Committees; and new governance bodies for domestic workers, rickshaw pullers, and waste pickers.
'We keep the city running. Shouldn't there be something for us too?' asked one domestic worker quoted in the study.
The report noted that 'one must recognise environmental vulnerability does not exist in a vacuum' and is entangled in structural neglect. It also mentions: '…This is not merely neglect, it is a form of structural violence that treats these workers as expendable in the face of environmental breakdown.'