How one Indian textile worker copes with extreme heat in factory work and cramped living quarters

SURAT, India (AP) — Before dawn breaks over the Indian industrial hub of Surat, textile worker Sibaram Pradhan is already awake, sitting on the floor in a cramped room he shares with as many as nine other men. Sweat beads on his forehead even at 6 a.m. as sweltering heat and humidity make days and nights hot across India this summer.

Like numerous others from his home state of Odisha in eastern India, Pradhan works in a power loom factory that produces polyester cloth in Surat, among the largest hubs for synthetic fabrics in the world. The 35-year-old is among the millions of workers in South Asia who endure appalling living conditions combined with hot, humid, poorly ventilated and incredibly loud factory floors as climate-driven extreme heat is only becoming worse across the region.

“I’m a poor person. I have come to Gujarat from Odisha, which is 2,000 kilometers away (1,242 miles), to work. We are poor people; we have to work to survive,” says Pradhan.

As soon as he’s up, Pradhan uses the little free time he has to place a video call to his wife and two kids in Odisha. A few minutes later, after praying in front of a small picture of his god posted in a corner of the tiny room, he walks down a dark, narrow hallway to join others lined up to use the toilets and bathe with a bucket. Two toilets and a few taps and bucket...