How can States use disaster funds for heatwaves

GS-III: Disaster Management | Climate Change | Disaster Financing | Public Health | Governance

Context

• New Inclusion: On August 4, the Ministry of Home Affairs informed the Lok Sabha that heatwaves and lightning had been added to India’s list of notified natural calamities, taking the total to 14.
• Basis of Reform: The change follows the recommendation of the Sixteenth Finance Commission (FC-XVI) and operational guidelines issued on June 30.
• Financial Significance: Along with the 2024 amendment to Disaster Mitigation Fund guidelines, heatwaves are now eligible for the full State Disaster Risk Management Fund pool.
• Why Important: Earlier, heatwaves occupied an unequal position in disaster financing, limiting States’ ability to respond to the growing threat of extreme heat.

Disaster Financing in India

• Constitutional Basis – Article 280: Under Article 280, the Finance Commission recommends arrangements relating to disaster management funds.
• FC-XVI Allocation: The Sixteenth Finance Commission recommended ₹2.04 lakh crore for State disaster funds for 2026-27 to 2030-31, nearly 28% higher than the previous Commission’s allocation.
• SDRF: Around ₹1.6 lakh crore has been allocated to the State Disaster Response Fund, which finances immediate response, relief and reconstruction after disasters.
• SDMF: The remaining amount goes to the State Disaster Mitigation Fund, which supports longer-term measures aimed at reducing disaster risk.
• Universal Availability: These State-level funds are available to all States.

National Disaster Funds

• Allocation: FC-XVI recommended ₹79,406 crore for national disaster funds for the same five-year period.
• Purpose: These funds can be sought when a disaster is sufficiently severe to exceed a State’s own resources.
• Example – Wayanad: Kerala sought such assistance following the Wayanad landslides in 2024, illustrating the role of national-level disaster financing in severe events.

How Funds Are Distributed Among States

• Disaster Risk Index: FC-XVI has used a formula incorporating a disaster risk index for inter-State distribution.
• Risk Factors: The index considers:
  • Frequency and intensity of hazards
  • Exposure
  • Vulnerability
  • Expenditure incurred by States during the previous Finance Commission period
• Risk-Based Financing: This approach attempts to align disaster financing more closely with the actual risk profile of States.

Earlier Problem with Heatwave Financing

• Local Disaster Route: Previously, a State could notify a heatwave as a local disaster and use the SDRF.
• 10% Ceiling: Such expenditure was restricted to 10% of the State’s annual SDRF allocation.
• Additional Norms: States also had to establish separate norms regarding compensation for loss of life and crop damage.
• Asymmetry: Other notified disasters such as floods and cyclones did not face the same ceiling.
• New Position: The latest notification removes this financing asymmetry and gives heatwaves greater access to disaster funds.

Why Heat Risk Is Increasing

• Growing Exposure: India’s exposure to extreme heat is increasing due to changing climatic conditions.
• District-Level Risk: An assessment using 35 indicators across climate change, exposure and vulnerability estimated that more than 57% of Indian districts, containing roughly three-fourths of India’s population, face high to very-high heat risk.
• Hotter Conditions: The number of hot days has increased.
• Warm Nights: Very warm nights have also become more frequent, reducing opportunities for the human body to recover after daytime heat.
• Humidity: Rising relative humidity can further reduce the body’s ability to cool itself through evaporation, increasing heat stress.

Heat Action Plans (HAPs)

• NDMA Initiative: The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has asked States, districts and cities to develop Heat Action Plans.
• Purpose: HAPs identify heat risks and vulnerabilities and specify short-, medium- and long-term interventions.
• Current Coverage: Around 300 cities and districts across 23 heatwave-prone States have HAPs.
• Implementation Gap: Despite this, implementation has lagged because of:
  • Limited technical capacity
  • Competing priorities
  • Inadequate funding
• Funding Problem: A 2023 review found that 79% of HAPs required city departments to self-allocate funds, weakening their financial viability.

What States Can Now Fund

• SDRF – Immediate Relief: States can use the SDRF for relief and compensation arising from heat-related losses.
• SDMF – Risk Reduction: The SDMF can finance longer-term mitigation measures such as:
  • Cooling shelters
  • Early-warning systems
  • Other heat-risk reduction interventions
• Nodal Agencies: The respective State Disaster Management Authorities and State Emergency Operations Centres will serve as nodal agencies for the two funds.

Major Gaps in Heat Planning

• Incomplete Coverage: While 300 cities and districts have HAPs, around 4,800 urban local bodies and 800 districts remain without them.
• Local Notification: Only 12 States have so far notified heatwaves locally.
• Technical Capacity: Many local bodies lack the expertise required to convert broad heat plans into technically appraisable projects.
• Funding Gap: Plans often exist without assured and dedicated financial resources.
• Guideline Gap: Heat-specific SDMF guidelines are still awaited.
• Risk Assessment: Existing mitigation guidelines require risk and vulnerability assessments before projects are proposed, making HAPs important groundwork for accessing funds.

Health Surveillance Challenge

• Need for Accurate Data: Relief payments increasingly depend upon reliable loss-and-damage data.
• Existing Surveillance: The Health Ministry’s surveillance system covers more than 51,000 reporting units.
• Recorded Cases: Between March 1 and July 26, it recorded 4,853 heatstroke cases and 20 confirmed heatstroke deaths.
• Underestimation Risk: Heat affects more than heatstroke alone; the system may miss the wider burden of heart, lung and kidney conditions aggravated by extreme heat.
• Need for Expansion: Health surveillance should capture the broader health impacts of heat exposure.

Way Forward

• Risk-Based Financing: Disaster funds should increasingly reflect the actual hazard exposure, vulnerability and expected losses of States.
• Fundable HAPs: Heat Action Plans should move from policy documents to costed, prioritised and implementable projects.
• Local Capacity Building: Urban local bodies need technical expertise for heat-risk assessment, project preparation and implementation.
• Early Warning Systems: Strengthen heat forecasting and ensure last-mile dissemination of warnings.
• Cooling Infrastructure: Develop cooling shelters and other locally appropriate measures, especially for vulnerable populations.
• Health-System Preparedness: Integrate heat surveillance with healthcare systems to identify both heatstroke and heat-aggravated diseases.
• Scheme Convergence: Combine disaster funds with existing programmes to avoid fragmented interventions.
• Innovative Financing: Expand the use of parametric insurance and other risk-transfer mechanisms.
• Preventive Approach: The focus should shift from merely compensating victims after heatwaves to reducing exposure and vulnerability before the event.

Conclusion

The recognition of heatwaves and lightning as notified natural calamities marks an important shift in India’s disaster-governance framework. It brings extreme heat within a stronger financial architecture and provides States greater scope to fund both immediate relief and long-term mitigation.

However, financial recognition alone cannot reduce heat vulnerability. India must ensure that Heat Action Plans are universal, technically sound, properly funded and health-focused. The ultimate shift must be from a relief-centric approach to anticipatory heat-risk management, combining climate information, resilient infrastructure, public health preparedness, insurance and local-level action.

UPSC Mains Practice Question

Q. “The recognition of heatwaves as a notified natural calamity marks a shift from reactive relief to proactive climate-risk management.” Discuss the significance of this reform and examine the challenges in financing and implementing heat-resilience measures in India. (250 words, 15 marks)