India’s Heat Crisis and the Legislative Vacuum

• 21 Apr 2026

Source: TH 

Why in News?  

India is witnessing an alarming rise in extreme heat events, with over 57% of districts now classified as heat-prone. Policy experts highlight how the absence of a robust legal and policy framework is worsening the vulnerability of informal workers, turning heatwaves into a systemic socio-economic and human rights crisis. 

How does Extreme Heat Create "Thermal Injustice" in India? 

• Stark Demographic Divide: A 2025 district-level assessment shows that 57% of districts, housing 76% of the population, face high to very high heat risk, indicating its widespread reach.  
  • In urban areas, the urban heat island effect further intensifies temperatures in densely built neighbourhoods, creating conditions of thermal injustice where the burden of heat falls disproportionately on vulnerable populations due to poverty, overcrowding, weak infrastructure, and inadequate public services, with its impacts sharply divided along class, caste, and gender lines. 
• Right to Cooling: Access to cooling remains deeply unequal, with better-off households relying on air-conditioning, insulated housing, backup power, and private transport, while poorer households depend on limited options like fans, shade, and inadequate public cooling infrastructure. 
  • This underscores the emerging “right to cooling,” emphasizing that thermal safety should not depend on private purchasing power. 
• Lack of Cooling Autonomy: Nearly 400 to 490 million informal workers (such as construction workers, delivery partners, and street vendors) possess zero "cooling autonomy." 
  • For informal workers, working in extreme heat is not just an inconvenience; it represents a systemic violation of the right to life. 
  • Construction workers face immense physical exertion, which is lethally compounded by the radiant heat generated from steel and concrete. 
  • Similarly, sanitation workers and waste pickers handle heated waste materials without protective gear, suffering severe physical burns.  
    • They operate in hazardous micro-climates created by extreme ambient heat and toxic fumes, where temperatures can be up to 5% higher than surrounding areas. 
• Survival Dilemma: Studies demonstrate that even a marginal rise in temperature causes a significant drop in productivity and a corresponding loss of income, forcing workers to routinely choose between biological survival and economic survival. 
  • Street vendors face a dual crisis due to severe health deterioration and a sharp decline in daily income, as their goods perish quickly and customers retreat indoors during extreme heat. 
  • In 2024, India lost 247 billion labour hours and about USD194 billion in income due to extreme heat, turning it into an immediate income shock for workers without paid leave or social protection. 
• Public Health Threat: Rising heatwave exposure increases illness and mortality risks, straining health systems, with the greatest impact on older adults, children, pregnant women, and those with pre-existing conditions. 
  • However, gaps between suspected heatstroke cases and confirmed deaths point to undercounting and weak surveillance, revealing an injustice not just in who suffers first, but in whose suffering goes unrecorded and unaddressed. 

India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP) 

• About: Launched in 2019 by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), the India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP) makes India the first country in the world to develop a comprehensive national policy document addressing cooling requirements across all sectors. 
  • The demand for cooling is projected to increase eight-fold by 2037-38. ICAP provides a 20-year perspective (2017-18 to 2037-38) to transition toward sustainable cooling, addressing both the developmental need for thermal comfort and the environmental mandate to phase down planet-warming refrigerants. 
• Aim: ICAP aims to reduce cooling demand across sectors, promote passive cooling in buildings through codes like the Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) and Eco-Niwas Samhita, and accelerate the transition to low Global Warming Potential (GWP) refrigerants in line with the Montreal Protocol and Kigali Amendment. 
  • Under the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, India will phase down Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) in a four-step schedule starting from 2032, with cumulative reductions of 10% by 2032, 20% by 2037, 30% by 2042, and 85% by 2047. 
• Core Targets of ICAP: ICAP outlines specific, measurable goals using 2017-18 as the baseline year: 
  • Reduce Cooling Demand: Cut overall cooling demand across sectors by 20% to 25%. 
  • Reduce Energy Requirement: Cut cooling energy requirements by 25% to 40%. 
  • Reduce Refrigerant Demand: Lower the demand for refrigerants by 25% to 30%. 

What are the Legal and Policy Gaps in Addressing Heat Crisis? 

• Exclusion from the Disaster Framework: Heatwaves are not recognised as a “notified disaster” under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, unlike floods or cyclones.  
  • This creates a fiscal constraint where states are limited by the “10% State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) cap,” allowing only a small portion of funds for heat relief, while also blocking access to the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF), thereby restricting large-scale mitigation efforts. 
• Inadequate and Outdated Labour Laws: The Factories Act, 1948, provides protections only for indoor workers, completely ignoring millions working outdoors in sectors like agriculture and construction.  
  • The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (OSHWC) Code, 2020 further weakens the framework by not mandating heat safety standards, leaving it to the discretion of the government without establishing enforceable obligations for employers. 
• Toothless Heat Action Plans (HAPs): Although many states have prepared Heat Action Plans, they remain largely advisory, focusing on warnings rather than enforceable action.  
  • These plans lack legal backing, dedicated funding, and implementation mechanisms, which limits their effectiveness in building infrastructure like cooling shelters or ensuring public water access. 
• Absence of Wage Compensation: Informal workers lose income during heat alerts with no compensation mechanism, forcing a choice between health and livelihood. 
• Gig Economy Blind Spot: Gig workers (especially delivery partners) face algorithm-driven pressure to meet delivery timelines even during extreme heat, with no legal safeguards such as penalty waivers, hazard pay, or mandated rest periods, increasing their vulnerability. 
• Flawed Measurement Metrics: India’s current heatwave classification relies mainly on dry-bulb temperature, ignoring humidity.  
  • This creates a gap where regions with high humidity face severe heat stress without triggering official heatwave responses. 

Read Heatwaves in Detail Here:  Heat Waves 

What Measures are Needed to Address the Extreme Heat  Crisis? 

• Notify Heatwaves as a National Disaster: The government must formally accept the 16th Finance Commission’s recommendation to include heatwaves and lightning in the Notified National Disaster list for 2026-31.  
  • This will unlock the NDRF and convert early warnings into binding mandates for district administrations. 
• Transition to the Heat Index: The Ministry of Labour and the India Meteorological Department (IMD) must use the Heat Index (a metric combining temperature and relative humidity) as the primary legal trigger for declaring heatwaves, ensuring coastal areas are adequately protected. 
• Enforce Binding Safety Rules: Under Section 23 of the OSHWC Code, the government must mandate protected work-rest cycles and make the provision of specialized Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), like insulated flasks, a non-negotiable employer obligation. 
• Protect the Gig Economy: Digital platforms must be legally prohibited from imposing delivery time penalties on gig workers during heat alerts, ensuring a statutory thermal safety net regardless of their 'contractor' status. 
• Recognize the 'Right to Cool': Based on the M.K. Ranjitsinh & Ors. v. Union of India & Ors (2024), the Supreme Court recognised that protection from the adverse effects of climate change is a fundamental right under Article 21.  
  • Building on this, the concept of a ‘Right to Cool’ can be derived, requiring Urban Local Bodies to ensure access to cooling shelters and free public water facilities as part of the right to life. 
• Provide Financial Compensation: The government must launch provisions for financial compensation to cover lost income on extreme heat days.  
  • Innovative models, such as the parametric heat insurance scheme by the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), can serve as a blueprint for this transition. 

Heat Index 

• The heat index is the “feels-like” temperature, calculated by combining air temperature and relative humidity.  
  • High humidity reduces sweat evaporation, making the body feel hotter than the actual temperature, while low humidity allows faster cooling, making it feel cooler. 
  • As temperature and humidity increase, the heat index rises, increasing the risk of heat-related illnesses like heat exhaustion and heat stroke. 

Conclusion 

As climate change accelerates, India must transition its disaster management approach from merely focusing on mortality prevention to ensuring livelihood protection. Bridging the legislative vacuum requires treating heat as a labour rights and constitutional issue, where thermal safety becomes a non-negotiable component of the social contract. 

Drishti Mains Question:

“Heatwaves in India are no longer environmental events but socio-economic crises.” Discuss. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). 

1. Why are heatwaves not effectively managed under current disaster laws?
Heatwaves are not classified as anotified disaster under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, limiting access to NDRF and restricting SDRF usage. 

2. What is ‘thermal injustice’?
It refers to theunequal burden of heat stress on informal workers due to lack of cooling access, reflecting class, caste, and occupational inequalities. 

3. What are the limitations of the OSHWC Code, 2020 regarding heat?
It lacksmandatory heat safety standards, leaving regulation discretionary and excluding outdoor workers from protection. 

4. Why are Heat Action Plans (HAPs) considered ineffective?
They are mostlyadvisory, lacking legal enforceability, funding, and implementation mechanisms. 

UPSC Civil Services Examination, Previous Year Question (PYQ)  

Q. What are the possible limitations of India in mitigating global warming at present and in the immediate future? (2010)

1. Appropriate alternate technologies are not sufficiently available.  
2. India cannot invest huge funds in research and development.  
3. Many developed countries have already set up their polluting industries in India.  

Which of the statements given above is/are correct? 

(a) 1 and 2 only  

(b) 2 only  

(c) 1 and 3 only  

(d) 1, 2 and 3 

Ans: (a)

---

Mains 

Q: Bring out the causes for the formation of heat islands in the urban habitat of the world. (2013)