Skip to main content

As heat waves intensify, is Govt of India policy helping reduce the threat?

By Bharat Dogra* 

May 15 this year came as a timely warning that India is in the center of the global warming crisis. On this day the maximum temperature crossed the 47 degrees Celsius limit in about 20 cities, mostly in northwest and central parts of the country. These cities also figured in the table of the hottest cities at world level on this day.
Most of these cities and the surrounding countryside have been figuring prominently also in the longer heat waves which have been experienced since early April.
Six of these cities are located in the Thar desert or the area close to it. These include Jaisalmer, Phalodi, Pilani, Churu, Bikaner and Ganganagar.
Four other cities are concentrated in a region of 13 districts known as Bundelkhand in Central India which saw temperature reaching 49 degrees C in Banda. Three other cities of the region which crossed the 47 mark were Jhansi, Naugaon and the tourist resort of Khajuraho.
The third belt in Northwest India included cities like Muktsar, Narnaul, Hisar and Sirsa. Gurugram, home to many multinational companies, crossed 48. Two points in the capital city of Delhi ( Mungeshwar and Najafgarh) crossed 49, even though its base observatory at Safdarjang recorded 45.6.
The base station is located closer to the elitist green areas, with many nice parks, while Mungeshwar and Najafgarh are congested areas with a substantial number of poorer people. It is these people who bear the brunt of heat waves.
While the slums where they live have less greenery are much more congested, they frequently also suffer from higher levels of air and water pollution as well as water scarcity. Open area workers as well as factory workers often work in very hot conditions, and get little respite whether at workplace or living place.
In Bundelkhand I have often seen farm workers toiling in intolerably hot conditions. However those who work there in stone quarries and stone crushers face even hotter conditions, while being exposed also to high dust levels.
In the desert area the scattered hamlets often find it extreme difficult to cope with scorching afternoons, but in addition face increasing water scarcity as well. Camels, who were once the most familiar face of the desert, now are increasingly a threatened species in most villages.
As heat waves intensify in times of climate change, is policy helping to reduce the threat? In recent years Bundelkhand has faced a fierce controversy over a water transfer project called Ken-Betwa Link. This project starts with the felling of over 2.3 million trees at a time when deforestation has been mentioned as a leading cause of water scarcity and worsening drought in Bundelkhand.
The viability of this project has been repeatedly challenged by independent experts who have pointed out that the basic premise of this project of transferring surplus water from Ken river to Betwa river is not justified as the existence of surplus water in Ken river has never been proved. They have pointed out that hundreds of very useful small water conservation projects can be supported instead by the diverting the budget of this expensive Rs 450 billion project.
In the scorching summers of this year and the previous year tens of thousands of slum dwellers have been evicted in the course of slum demolitions and in some cases their means of livelihoods like small shops and carts too have been destroyed.
These demolitions have taken place in scorching heat and it is not known where the evicted people are supposed to go. Government promises of rehabilitation often remain confined to uncertain assurances to about one-fourth of those who are evicted.
Such demolitions have affected several cities which have figured prominently in heat waves, including Faridabad, Gurugram and Chandigarh. In recent days these have intensified in Delhi. The worst sufferers are mostly poor informal sector workers who have already suffered much recently due to COVID and related lockdowns and earlier due to adverse policies like demonetization.
The poor increasingly ask -- where do we go in this savage heat when our homes and livelihoods too are being snatched from us.
The elite however can escape to the hill stations of the Himalayan region. I happened to be close to the hill station of Kasauli as record numbers of tourists poured in from the scorching plains. But the relief from heat they sought was not in sight as several forests were engulfed in flames.
People in Kasauli as well as tourists felt suffocated as the smoke also reached the hotels and restaurants. There was a rush to rescue stranded, endangered people. A helicopter appeared on the horizon to help in extinguishing fire, but appeared to be unequal to the challenge of the leaping flames. An eco-camp was reduced to ashes. Many tourists turned back midway, back to the scorching plains.
---
*Honorary Convener, Campaign to Protect Earth Now; recent books include ‘A Day in 2071', ‘Planet in Peril' and ‘Man over Machine'

Comments

TRENDING

Wave of disappearances sparks human rights fears for activists in Delhi

By Harsh Thakor*  A philosophy student from Zakir Hussain College, Delhi University, and an activist associated with Nazariya magazine, Rudra, has been reported missing since the morning of July 19, 2025. This disappearance adds to a growing concern among human rights advocates regarding the escalating number of detentions and disappearances of activists in Delhi.

Aggressive mining operations: With 70% of Maharashtra’s forest cover, Gadchiroli is on brink of environmental collapse

By  Raj Kumar Sinha*  A looming ecological and social disaster is unfolding in the forests of Gadchiroli, Maharashtra. Over 1.23 lakh trees are set to be felled for mining activities—an alarming development that has sparked widespread protests from Adivasi communities and civil society organizations. They are urging the state and central governments to immediately halt all mining-related approvals and operations in the region. They are also calling for a complete review of all clearances, including Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) and Detailed Project Reports (DPR), based on holistic ecological, hydrological, and social assessments. These groups demand that forest corridors and tiger habitats be recognized as protected areas, and that the laws under the Forest Rights Act (2006) and PESA Act (1996) be strictly enforced. Most crucially, they insist that decisions made by tribal gram sabhas be respected through transparent public hearings.

‘Act of war on agriculture’: Aruna Rodrigues slams GM crop expansion and regulatory apathy

By Rosamma Thomas*  Expressing appreciation to the Union Agriculture Minister for inviting suggestions from farmers and concerned citizens on the sharp decline in cotton crop productivity, Aruna Rodrigues—lead petitioner in the Supreme Court case ongoing since 2005 that seeks a moratorium on genetically modified (GM) crops—wrote to Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on July 14, 2025, stating that conflicts of interest have infiltrated India’s regulatory system like a spreading cancer, including within the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR).

Overriding India's constitutional sovereignty? Citizens urge PM to reject WHO IHR amendments

By A Representative   A group of concerned Indian citizens, including medical professionals and activists, has sent an urgent appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to reject proposed amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR) before the ratification deadline of July 19, 2025. 

Farmer 'stripped, assaulted' by BSF jawan in West Bengal border village: Rights group urges NHRC to act

By A Representative  A disturbing incident of alleged custodial torture and public humiliation has been brought to the attention of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) by a leading human rights group, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), involving a Muslim farmer in a border village of West Bengal. In a formal complaint, Kirity Roy, Secretary of MASUM and National Convenor of the Programme Against Custodial Torture & Impunity (PACTI), has urged the NHRC to take urgent action following an incident that occurred on the morning of June 12, 2025, in Hakimpur village near the India–Bangladesh border under Swarupnagar police station, North 24 Parganas district. According to the complaint, 38-year-old Jahar Ali Gazi, a resident of Hakimpur Uttar Para, was on his way to his field in Kadamtala Math around 7:30 am when he was stopped by an on-duty Border Security Force (BSF) jawan near the 7 No. Outpost of Hakimpur Border Outpost (143 Battalion). The location...

India’s zero-emission, eco-friendly energy strategies have a long way to go, despite impressive progress

By N.S. Venkataraman*   The recent report released by OPEC’s World Oil Outlook 2025 has predicted that by the year 2050, crude oil would replace coal as India’s key energy source. Clearly, OPEC expects that India’s dependence on fossil fuels for energy will continue to remain high in one form or another.

The Empire strikes inward: Britain’s colonial legacy now targets its own citizens

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak   British colonialism may belong to the past, but the colonial mindset of the ruling elite in Britain persists. Today, these elites are applying colonial values and repressive political tactics not abroad, but to their own people. 'Home' is now where British colonialism is taking root—threatening civil liberties and undermining liberal democracy. The criminalisation of dissent has become a shared political practice across the Conservative and Labour leadership.

Ecological alarm over pumped storage projects in Western Ghats: Policy analyst writes to PM

By A Representative   In a detailed letter addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, energy and climate policy analyst Shankar Sharma has raised grave concerns over the escalating approval and construction of Pumped Storage Projects (PSPs) across India’s ecologically fragile river valleys. He has warned that these projects, if pursued unchecked, could result in irreparable damage to the country’s riverine ecology, biodiversity hotspots, and forest wealth—particularly in the Western Ghats.

Gurdial Singh Paharpuri: A lifetime of revolutionary contribution and unfulfilled aspirations

By Harsh Thakor*  Gurdial Singh Paharpuri, a Central Committee member of the Communist Party Re-Organisation Centre of India (Marxist-Leninist) (CPRCI(ML)), passed away on July 2, marking a significant loss for the Indian Communist Revolutionary movement. For six decades, Singh championed the cause of revolution, leaving an enduring impact through his lifelong dedication to the global proletarian movement. His contributions are considered foundational, laying groundwork for future advancements in revolutionary thought. He is recognized as a key figure among Indian Communist revolutionary leaders who shaped the mass line, and his example is seen as a model for revolutionary communists to follow.