Background

Across many Indian cities, rising temperatures are increasingly shaping everyday life in ways that are not experienced equally. For women living in informal settlements, extreme heat is not simply an environmental concern but a daily health challenge. Limited ventilation, dense housing conditions, and restricted access to reliable water sources often mean that heat exposure becomes a constant part of their routine domestic chores like cooking, cleaning, and water collection. 

The scale of this challenge is also growing quite rapidly. Research suggests that more than 121 million women living in poor urban areas in India are at high risk from inadequate access to cooling and heat-mitigation resources, highlighting the disproportionate climate vulnerability faced by them, especially in low-income settlements. In eastern India specifically too, a study conducted in 2021, that looked into housing in informal settlements, found that many homes experience dangerous levels of indoor heat stress during summer months, as densely built environments trap heat and limit airflow. These conditions are quite concerning for cities like Kolkata, where high humidity can cause the temperatures to remain elevated, even after the sun sets. 

Given all of this, The Heat Index - Kolkata (THInK) was brought to life with a specific focus on Kolkata, whose increasing urbanization and rising temperatures are catalyzing everyday environmental risks. This humble initiative seeks to understand how heat stress intersects with gender, health, and living conditions. Thus, through research, awareness, and collaboration THInK looks forward to contributing to healthy conversations around building safer and more climate-resilient communities.