Key Objectives

  • Generate primary evidence on health, livelihood, and economic burdens of heat stress among informal workers in Varanasi and Patna.
  • Map urban heat risk by integrating heat mapping with city-level climate data across geography, infrastructure, and communities.
  • Design occupation-specific resilience measures (heat-shields) for vendors, rickshaw pullers, construction, and sanitation workers.
  • Address the double burden on informal-sector women balancing heat exposure with unpaid care work, via gender-responsive research.
  • Build youth leadership through participatory, culture-based methods for sustained community action.
  • Strengthen policy by helping city administrations close gaps in Heatwave Action Plans and ensure on-ground implementation.