OF HEAT, FLOODS AND LIVES ON THE EDGE

Climate change is marginalizing millions of women garment workers across the length and breadth of India

- Ritwika Mitra

People like us do not have a job where we can afford to take paid leaves," remarks 40-year-old Urmila Srivastava drily. Srivastava, a resident of Ahmedabad’s Rakhial locality, pauses to catch her breath as she looks up from her sewing machine in her tiny, dimly lit home. Her husband sells plasticware and their three children, aged 20, 18, and 17, are studying. Though it is difficult to work in the cramped space, a part of which also serves as her bathroom, she reminds herself that the rent of ₹4,000 is all that the family can afford.

“My priority is to educate my children," says Srivastava, and the number of days that she does not switch on her sewing machine are few. But the rising mercury has been distressing. “During the summer, I feel restless and my head reels. The heat is unbearable. I cannot sit for long and work during such heat. I have to take frequent breaks. Sometimes, I also get a fever and feel nauseous. I then have to bear more medical expenses."

About 13 km away, 37-year-old Tarannum Banu endures the same suffering, spending sleepless nights as the delivery date of her third child nears.

A home-based garment worker, Banu was in her eighth month of pregnancy when this reporter met her in July, and still scrambling to make ends meet for her family of four. The pregnancy, mounting living costs, as well as a medical emergency that translated into loss of two months’ work, have left the family in debt.

As Banu tried to pick up more work sewing salwar kurta sets, the heat in May slowed her down, with the asbestos roof over her home turning it into an oven. “The room heats up so severely that it becomes unbearable for me to sit here. I sometimes work till midnight in the summer as I cannot work during the day. I also have a thyroid problem, which makes me feel exhausted," says Banu sitting on the floor, her legs stretched out.