As Delhi swelters under a brutal 45°C heatwave, the headlines focus on British charities rushing to provide emergency aid. Noble as this may be, the real story lies in the grotesque market failure that leaves the city's poorest without basic survival essentials. Water and electricity, like any scarce resource, have a price.
Yet decades of populist subsidies and inefficient governance have ensured that supply never meets demand. The result? A humanitarian crisis that no amount of charity can fix.
Gilt yields may be steady in London, but in Delhi, the yield on human life is plummeting. The capital flight is not of money, but of lives. The market always delivers its verdict, and for Delhi's poor, the bottom line is written in the sand.
Fiscal responsibility is not a luxury; it is the only sustainable way to prevent such tragedies. Until then, the heat will continue to exact its toll.
