Answer

Introduction

Recognising rising heat risks, the National Disaster Management Authority has expanded Heat Action Plans, while the 16th Finance Commission recommended notifying heatwaves as a national disaster for dedicated funding, signalling the urgency of systemic reform.

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Achievements of Heat Action Plans (HAPs)

• Early Warning: HAPs improved advance alerts and weather-based advisories, helping vulnerable groups prepare before extreme heat events.
  Eg: India Meteorological Department issues heatwave warnings integrated with city-level HAPs like Ahmedabad.
• Public Awareness: Awareness campaigns on hydration, avoiding peak heat hours, and first aid reduced immediate health risks.
  Eg: NDMA advisories promote water intake, avoiding afternoon exposure, and community-level awareness drives every summer.
• Emergency Relief: Short-term palliatives like water kiosks, shaded bus stops, and cooling shelters offered immediate support to exposed populations.
• Institutional Response: Heatwaves entered disaster governance discourse, improving coordination among health, urban, and labour departments.
  Eg: Several States now prepare annual district heat preparedness plans under NDMA guidance.
• Funding Push: Recognition of heatwaves as a disaster issue created momentum for stronger financial support mechanisms.
  Eg: The 16th Finance Commission recommended heatwaves be notified as a national disaster to unlock central funding.

Why HAPs Have Reached Their Limits

• Short-Term Focus: Most plans rely on temporary relief rather than reducing long-term exposure to unsafe indoor and outdoor temperatures.
• Poor Quality: Many HAPs are copied from elsewhere without local adaptation, reducing effectiveness across diverse climatic regions.
• Indoor Neglect: Workers in factories, warehouses and delivery hubs remain exposed because HAPs focus mainly on outdoor heat.
• Weak Enforcement: Even where plans exist, implementation and inspection remain weak, especially for labour-intensive workplaces.
  Eg: Informal workers and delivery staff often lack enforceable workplace cooling safeguards despite repeated advisories.
• Climate Mismatch: Imported solutions from Europe fail because India’s heat is wetter, longer, and more humid, requiring context-specific responses.

Why India Needs a National Cooling Doctrine

• Public Health Right: Safe indoor temperatures must be treated as a public-health entitlement, not merely a seasonal advisory issue.
  Eg: Access to safe indoor temperatures as a guaranteed entitlement.
• Workplace Standards: Mandatory minimum cooling standards are needed for factories, warehouses, kitchens, call centres, and delivery hubs.
• Passive Cooling: Scalable solutions like reflective roofing and passive cooling materials reduce dependence on expensive air conditioning.
  Eg: Cool roof programmes in Telangana and Ahmedabad show lower indoor temperatures through reflective surfaces.
• Efficient Technology: District cooling systems and affordable efficient ACs suited to Indian grids are necessary for dense urban zones.
• Energy Realism: Cooling policy must reflect affordability limits since most Indians cannot bear western-style mechanical cooling costs.
  Eg: India’s grid supplies only ~60% of installed capacity, making universal AC dependence unrealistic.

Conclusion

Dr. Mavalankar observed, heat is a silent killer. As heatwaves grow longer and deadlier, India must move beyond seasonal emergency responses toward a permanent cooling architecture. A National Cooling Doctrine can transform heat governance from temporary relief to a rights-based framework of resilience, health, and human dignity.

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