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India: Climate change leaves Dehli's urban poor in the cold

Bahar Dutt in New Delhi
March 26, 2024

Climate change has brought heat waves to northern India, but also colder weather. How do people living in poverty and without shelter cope?

https://p.dw.com/p/4dzRo

In North Indian states like Delhi and Punjab, winters have gotten shorter but have featured more intense cold waves. That has posed a great challenge to the people living in poverty.

Dehli's state government announced a "winter action plan" that involved setting up hundreds of temporary shelters in response to the cold wave. The government also supports NGOs like Akshaya Patra, which provides hot meals for homeless people.

But the hardship may only get more challenging amid climate change. According to a Lancet Commission study in 2021, the number of annual deaths linked with abnormally cold temperatures is more than 600,000.

Bahar Dutt
Bahar Dutt Award-winning journalist Bahar Dutt trained as a conservation biologist.@bahardutt