Heat waves that have killed thousands of people in India are increasing at a remarkable rate . March was the hottest month of March, the hottest ever recorded, according to a World Bank study .
Thiruvananthapuram: According to a recent report by the World Bank, severe heat waves that have killed thousands of people in India over the past few decades are increasing at a remarkable rate, and India could be one of the world's first places to see heat waves that breach the human survival threshold in April 2022.According to the latest study, the month of March, which saw extreme temperatures, was the hottest ever recorded, and that rising heat waves in India could put up to 34 million hours of sustained labour loss by the end of this decade, according to the report.The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC's Sixth Assessment Report), also published in August 20, also cautioned that rising heat waves in India could place more than 380 million hours of stress on industrial productivity in South Asia.According to the journal, annual food losses in India would be USD 13 billion, with only 4 percent of fresh produce produced by cold chain factories.It also noted that India lost about 20% of temperature-sensitive medical products and 25 percent of vaccines as a result of failed cold chains, resulting in losses of USD 313 million per year.
Only eight percent of Indian households have air-conditioning units, according to an analysis published in the India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP).However, indoor and electric fans can help to maintain thermal stability, but they are also expensive to purchase and inefficient.As a result, many poor and marginalized populations in India are more vulnerable to extreme heat, living in unventilated, hot, and crowded homes with no access to cooling, according to the study.The exercise showed that staying cool during extreme heat is more than just a safety net.