The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) in March predicted an increase in heat wave days and higher-than-normal temperatures from April to June, on the lines of last year's record-breaking temperatures that caused significant distress across North and Central India. There were more than 733 deaths and over 40,000 cases of heat stroke last year across 17 states, although the Central government said the numbers were less than half of the reported data. There is currently no standardised data collection model to evaluate the damage from heat waves.
The IMD also recommended precautions for vulnerable populations, such as children, elderly, and outdoor workers. Studies have revealed that outdoor workers in India are the most affected by heat, eating into their working hours by 20%. This decline impacts household economies and the country's GDP. Prolonged exposure to heat can lead to declining wages and rising healthcare costs, increasing the risk of falling into poverty.
A report by a Delhi-based climate think tank, Sustainable Future Collaborative (SFC), highlights that three-fourths of India's labour force is exposed to extreme heat. It quotes the International Labour Organisation's 2019 report, which predicts that by 2030, heat stress could reduce India's overall working hours by 5.8%, equivalent to 3.4 crore full-time jobs.
Heat has both near-term and long-term effects on human health. The human body responds to heat through redistributing blood flow to skin and sweat, which can in some cases increase cardiac oxygen demand and potentially lead to cardiac arrest. A 2023 study in Tamil Nadu found that occupational exposure to extreme heat more than doubled the risk of miscarriage in pregnant women.
The country developed its first Heat Action Plan (HAP) in 1999 with Odisha taking the initiative to do so. In 2010, India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change recognised the heat-health issue. Subsequently, Ahmedabad developed South Asia’s first city-level HAP in 2013 in response to a deadly heat wave in 2010. These plans aim to mitigate the negative impacts on productivity and health.
However, Delhi-based policy think tank, Centre for Policy Research, analysed all 37 HAPs across 18 states and found that most of them lack local context, are underfunded, and fail to adequately target vulnerable populations.
Another Delhi-based environmental think tank, the International Forum for Environment, Sustainability and Technology (iFOREST), assessed HAPs from nine cities and five districts in addressing the unprecedented heat crisis. They found that many HAPs include only general information and broad recommendations. For example, most HAPs do not conduct heat impact assessments to evaluate the cascading impact of heat stress on sectors such as energy and power supply, water supply, public transportation, education, agriculture, and animal husbandry. These can significantly impact human health and livelihoods.
So, what is preventing the Indian government from strengthening and operationalising its HAPs? The SFC report highlighted some barriers that hinder the country from fully implementing effective HAPs, based on extensive research in nine cities across nine states, representing just over 11% of India’s urban population.
A primary concern is the lack of horizontal coordination (between departments at the same level of government) and vertical coordination (between units in a hierarchical relationship, usually between state and local governments) in implementing any heat action plan. The Disaster Management Department or city administrators, who oversee heat responses, face challenges in coordinating across different departments. Officials said that while they have the authority to issue advisories and suggest actions, the actual implementation of the plans falls on line department officials who often do not perceive heat as a significant problem or disaster. The health department's actions tend to be self-contained, operating independently without relying on other line departments to enhance hospital readiness or conduct awareness campaigns during heat waves. However, initiatives such as providing cool drinking water, creating shady areas in vending zones, improving urban transport for convenience, reducing metro fares to accommodate more passengers, and adjusting working hours involve coordination with other departments.
Apart from the health department's routine actions, other departments frequently report a lack of legal or regulatory mandate to act during heat-related emergencies. The absence of provisions for extreme heat and other climate hazards in regulatory frameworks presents a barrier to action. This highlights the need to integrate climate concerns into the planning processes of Indian cities.
Actions like creating permanent shade structures or expanding shade areas in dense urban heat islands are often complicated by local political dynamics. Additionally, regulating the heat-retaining design of modern buildings requires a supportive institutional and legal framework. Labour department officials, for instance, fail to improve labour conditions due to inadequate enforcement of existing laws mandating the provision of water, shade, and safe temperature conditions at workplaces.
Line departments are often overwhelmed with routine tasks and upcoming disaster mitigation efforts, which detracts them from their focus on heat resilience tasks or heat wave disasters. In cities like Delhi, heat waves are quickly overshadowed by other crises, such as flooding or air pollution. After facing a heat wave, city governments could soon have to contend with flooding, extreme air pollution, and cold waves.
Many personnel in government departments do not recognise heat as a significant issue. They often fail to see a direct correlation between heat hazards and their associated mortality rates compared to other disasters. A survey found that as many as 25% of health sector personnel did not acknowledge heat as a problem. This may be due to their focus on more immediate hazards that tend to claim more lives each year, such as vector-borne or infectious diseases, while heat-related deaths are typically fewer in comparison.
The response to heat hazards is further hindered by a shortage of skilled staff trained to manage heat-specific disasters and a lack of technical capacity for long-term planning. Competing priorities and non-recognition of heat hazards have already taken a toll on mitigation efforts. Besides, there is staff shortage at the district level, which complicates last-mile implementation of policies and directives from the state. Most city administrators lack specialised support staff in district disaster management, often resulting in one staff member being overwhelmed with duties that should be managed by at least three individuals.
These challenges are exacerbated by weak technical capacity combined with personnel shortages and competing priorities.
Many officials believe there is no shortage of funds for heat mitigation. Their claims hold some truth when considering their efforts toward short-term actions that rarely require significant financial resources.