Who is counting India's heat deaths? – Southasia Weekly #62
This week in Himal
This week, Jeff Joseph writes that ineffective advisories and the undercounting of heat-related deaths leaves millions of Indians vulnerable to extreme heat and the climate crisis. Joseph notes that Southasia is home to 29 percent of people living in extreme poverty, who are most at risk from heatwaves, adding that it is imperative for the region’s governments to act to help them.
For the next episode of the Southasia Review of Books podcast, host Shwetha Srikanthan speaks with Mumbai-based journalist Rahul Bhatia on his new book, The Identity Project: The Unmaking of the World’s Largest Democracy, on India’s transformation from democracy towards autocracy.
This week in Southasia
Maldives bars Israeli passport holders over war on Gaza
This week, the Maldives ratified a bill that barred Israeli passport holders from entering the country. The President’s Office said the bill was in response to “the continuing atrocities and ongoing acts of genocide committed by Israel against the Palestinian people.” The bill was stalled for months before changes were introduced to allow Israeli citizens with dual passports to enter the Maldives, and to add a provision that Israeli citizens could enter the country once the attacks on Palestinians stopped. The bill has been met with mixed reactions, with a US Congressman pushing legislation to cut off American aid to the Maldives when it was first introduced.
News of the bill made headlines after 100,000 protesters gathered in Dhaka to march for Gaza on 12 April. In Sri Lanka, a 22 year old received bail after being arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act for pasting a sticker condemning Israel’s actions in Gaza. The arrest was met with protests and thousands of stickers in support of Palestine distributed throughout Colombo in Sri Lanka. In October 2024, the US and Israel’s security council issued travel advisories warning of a terrorist threat to Israeli tourists in the eastern town of Arugam Bay due to rising tensions around the ongoing war in Gaza. Even as more citizens in the region and the mainstream press have shifted their position on the war in Gaza, governments like India and Sri Lanka have either remained silent or tacitly supported Israel through signing weapons and labour contracts with Israel’s government.