HEAT-PROOFING OUR URBAN SPACES

Even as the NDA is poised for a historic win, as all exit polls predicted, Narendra Modi has not sit idle, waiting for the sure-shot result. Soon after the very gruelling and exacting election campaign, he headed on a pilgrimage to Swami Vivekananda Rock Memorial, where he sat in meditation for some succour and energy before undertaking the tasks on hand.

Rightly, after returning to Delhi, he at once held a series of meetings with top officials to take stock of the situation in the wake of heatwaves and post cyclone flood situations. On the heatwave conditions, he instructed officials that regular drills for the maintenance of fire-line in forests and productive utilisation of the biomass must be planned. Many parts of the country of late experienced alarming rise in temperatures, soaring to 50 degrees Celsius in some parts.

A disquieting news that the officials broke to the PM, as per the IMD forecasts, heat waves are likely to persist in parts of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, although the monsoon is likely to be normal and above normal in most parts of the country and below normal in parts of Peninsular India. Extreme weather conditions are here to stay. The year 2024 has, perhaps, seen the worst summer in the last 120 years, according to climate scientists. As densely populated areas experienced sweltering heat, scores of deaths were reported due to heat stress across the country.

For the last few years, it has been a common experience that the spring season itself is shrinking. With extreme heat waves no longer being a rarity, we must wonder how we have come to this state. Never have temperatures gone so high, at more than 47 degrees Celsius, vast regions. There has been an acute thermal discomfort and a rise in heat-related diseases and deaths. Searing heat also affects labour capacity and productivity in outdoor conditions, and affect livelihoods of the poor as they would struggle to carry out their occupations. Not only increased humidity is worsening over the years, despite not large changes in temperatures over the past decade, temperatures are also not cooling off considerably at nights.

Higher humidity is so distressing particularly in heat islands that our urban spaces are becoming. What one and all must realise is that adding fuel to the heat is urban heat island scenario. Delhi almost touched 50 deg C due to El Nino, a sea surface warming weather phenomenon in Arabian Sea. There has been an unusual spree of fire incidents in several parts of the country. This hot conditions also sparked off water crisis.

Even as the monsoon has set in, the troubling scenario that some parts of the country are still passing through calls for heat conversations among officials at all levels, policymakers, civil societies and media, giving calls for the government to initiate ‘green actions’ in right earnest. Climate-adaptive and localised green action plans must be devised to provide succour to humans and animal world as well.

All must mind that the extreme heat in India this year is certainly not an anomaly. Though reports say over 200 districts and cities have green action plans, there need to be critical discussions and reviews of them. Increasing green cover, with parks and urban forests, and protecting water bodies has become more urgent than ever. Green building must be given greater thrust, too. We need to embed urban heat resilience in building codes, zoning, and land-use regulations. The strategies to beat the heat during the 2025 summer must get off the ground sooner than later. The Prime Minister must initiate action in this regard as part of his 100-day action plan upon his swearing-in.