India is being left to die in the heat
Key takeaways
- Now, as the death toll climbs uncounted, his government offers branding instead of protection.
- Across the country, temperatures have crossed 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit), inching towards 46, with Akola in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region recording the country’s highest temperature of 46.9C on April 26.
- There is a violence to the light, the kind that makes you shield your eyes – even at 7am.
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
Modi has denied climate change for years. Now, as the death toll climbs uncounted, his government offers branding instead of protection.
xwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogle Add Al Jazeera on Googleinfo People rest at a cooling zone set up by the Delhi government in New Delhi, India, on May 19, 2026 [Rajat Gupta/EPA]India is experiencing an extraordinary summer.
Across the country, temperatures have crossed 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit), inching towards 46, with Akola in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region recording the country’s highest temperature of 46.9C on April 26. Census workers have died, as have voters who stepped out in the recently concluded West Bengal election. A man who boarded a bus to attend a wedding died before he reached his destination. On a single day in late April, all of the top 50 hottest cities in the world were located in India.