A recent CEEW study finds 57 percent of Indian districts—covering 76 percent of the population—now face “high to very high” heat risk, driven by rising nighttime temperatures, humidity surges and urban heat island effects. The Council on Energy, Environment and Water’s heat risk index evaluates 734 districts, integrating 40 years of climate data with socio-economic, health, land-use, vegetation and humidity trends.
According to the findings, 266 districts are in the “very high” category and 151 are “high”, while 201 fall under “moderate” and only 116 rank as “low” or “very low”. The 10 states and union territories with the highest proportion of vulnerable districts are Delhi, Maharashtra, Goa, Kerala, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh Andhra Pradesh is the most heat-exposed overall, with its entire 100 percent district count ranked as high or very high risk. A striking insight of the report is the disproportionate rise in “very warm” nights—70 percent of districts recorded at least five extra warm nights per summer between 2012 and 2022, compared to only 28 percent experiencing the same increase in hot days.
For major cities, the trend is acute: Mumbai added 15 warm nights, Bengaluru 11, Bhopal and Jaipur seven each, Delhi and Chennai saw six and four respectively. While hot days stress the human body, elevated nights deny vital cooling, intensifying heat-related health risks. Medical experts warn that illness and mortality—including cardiovascular strain—rise sharply when nocturnal relief fails . Another compounding issue is elevated relative humidity. The Indo-Gangetic Plain—Delhi, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Lucknow—recorded a 6–9 percent humidity increase over the past decade, hampering the body’s sweat-based cooling. Combined with heat, high humidity can prove lethal.
Urbanisation further aggravates matters. Dense built-up areas trap and reradiate heat, fuelling urban heat island effects that compound night-time warmth, particularly in Tier I and II cities . The study specifically cites districts containing large cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Bhopal and Bhubaneswar as facing the greatest exposure. However, not all regions are equally disadvantaged. Districts in Odisha, with better green cover and water bodies, demonstrate resilience against heat extremes. This underlines that land-use strategy can reduce vulnerability—aligning directly with eco-friendly, equitable urban planning.
The study warns that many existing Heat Action Plans (HAPs) are outdated, focusing mainly on daytime temperatures. It calls for district-level updates that incorporate night-time heat trends, humidity metrics, demographic distributions, cooling infrastructure plans and climate-resilient finance mechanisms. CEEW’s report arrives amid real-time heatwave crises: the India Meteorological Department has issued red alerts across northwestern and eastern India, with persistent over‑44 °C readings in Delhi, Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana. Experts link this to delayed monsoon currents and atmospheric shifts—a trend likely to intensify under climate change. The human cost is significant. India recorded over 40,000 suspected heatstroke cases and more than 110 confirmed deaths between March and June 2024. Outdoor employees, the elderly, children, urban poor and those with pre-existing conditions are especially at risk.
Analysts stress that mitigating this “invisible crisis” requires city-level urban greening, deployment of cool‑roof technology, scaling climate‑resilient infrastructure, and wide public and private investment into adaptive health systems. Enhanced HAPs funded through the State Disaster Mitigation Fund offer one such pathway. With India’s urban population projected to reach half the country by 2050, these insights underscore the urgency of rebounding with climate‑sensitive planning. Incorporating green corridors, night‑cool strategies, and inclusive heat‑proofing could be the linchpin between resilience and breakdown. India’s new heat‑risk matrix is not alarmism—it’s a wake‑up call. Redesigning cities, updating district protocols, and financing resilient health systems will be critical to confront a future where both days and nights threaten public well‑being.
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