Heatwaves, lightning recognised natural disasters in India

Indian Union Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai, told the Parliament earlier this month that heatwaves and lightning have officially been recognised as natural calamities eligible for relief under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) for the 2026-31 award period., according to a Press Trust of India (PTI) report.

Acting on the recommendations of the 16th Finance Commission in view of the increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events linked to climate change, the PTI report adds that the minister said a policy framework for providing relief assistance through the SDRF and NDRF is now in place, and heatwave mitigation projects are also eligible under the disaster mitigation funds.

Twenty people have died due to heatstroke while 4,853 cases have been reported across the country since March 1 this year, with Maharashtra recording the highest number of fatalities and Telangana reporting the most cases, according to government data tabled in the Parliament earlier this month. The current list of notified disasters has 12 entries: cyclone, drought, earthquake, fire, flood, tsunami, hailstorm, landslides, avalanches, cloudburst, pest attack, and frost and cold waves. Before this notification, only a handful of states had notified heatwaves as disasters within their own jurisdictions, such as Haryana, Odisha, Kerala, Telangana, and Tamil Nadu.

The move follows a long-standing demand from state governments, policy and civil society groups, public health advocates and vulnerable communities, as per a Down to Earth (DTE) analysis. The 16th Finance Commission made this recommendation citing their growing impact and rising death toll. It has also backed the continuation of a system that allows states to spend up to 10% of their disaster relief funds on locally severe events not on the national list, the DTE analysis adds. States are also permitted to use up to 10% of their SDRF allocation for providing immediate relief in disasters that are not included in the national list but are considered severe at the local level.

However, this is subject to the state formally notifying such disasters and laying down clear rules and guidelines, approved by the State Executive Committee. The Commission has recommended that this flexibility for states be continued. In its report, the Commission said it had considered actual disaster-related expenditure incurred by states over several years while allocating funds to the National Disaster Fund.

According to the Commission, the DTE analysis says extreme heat disproportionately affects vulnerable and sensitive populations. Data show a sharp rise in both the number and intensity of extremely hot days in India between 1981 and 2022, with severe heatwaves recorded in 2013, 2016, 2019, 2022 and 2024. The number of extremely hot nights has also increased significantly over the past decade. During such nights, the human body is unable to recover from daytime heat, increasing the risk of heat-related illnesses such as heatstroke. Official data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) and the Union Ministry of Home Affairs show that 3,798 deaths due to heat or heatwaves were recorded in India between 2018 and 2022.

The Commission has also flagged lightning as a rapidly escalating threat, as per the DTE analysis. Citing the Annual Lightning Report (2020-21), prepared in collaboration with the India Meteorological Department, it said there was a 34% increase in lightning strikes across the country during the period. Around 18.5 million lightning strikes were recorded in 2020-21 – 4.7 million more than the previous year. NCRB data show that lightning has emerged as the leading cause of deaths due to natural disasters in India. In 2022 alone, lightning accounted for 2,887 deaths – 35.8% of the 8060 fatalities attributed to natural disasters that year. Considering these trends, the Commission concluded that both heatwaves and lightning should be formally recognised as national disasters, allowing states to access disaster relief funds more directly and consistently to respond to their growing impact. The 15th Finance Commission did not find strong reasons to include heatwaves as a notified disaster, says the DTE analysis. Now, with the new notification, states can draw on the full SRDF funds and avail the national fund when state funds are inadequate.