The burning plains

CHENNAI: Since the past one week, Chennaiites have been reeling under the spell of an intense summer.

On Sunday, the temperature crossed 40 degrees Celsius for the first time this year. Temperatures are reported to be the highest in May since 2021.

On Tuesday, day time temperature breached 42.7 degrees Celsius in Meenambakkam, which made it the hottest day of the year as of now.

Experts pinned the blame on Cyclone Mocha that has sucked every ounce of moisture from the land. The change in the wind direction caused by the cyclone, coupled with the absence of wind discontinuity that introduced cloudy weather, and infrequent showers, as well as hot winds blowing from Andhra Pradesh and no avenues for convection exacerbated the heat spell in Chennai and surrounding regions.

As per the IMD, temperatures for the next few days may continue to surge past 40 degree Celsius mark, while south peninsular India should brace for readings of 2-3 degrees Celsius above normal, until the middle of next week.

The last time that the summer day was this hot was on May 21, 2020, when Chennai roasted at 41.8 degrees Celsius. But this is not an endemic issue. Last month, heatwaves forced schools to close in parts of Meghalaya and Tripura.

The Met department had warned that nine states are facing heatwaves simultaneously, which indicated a new high temperature for the region.

As per climate experts, heatwaves have now evolved into the new normal for India, as they turn longer, more frequent, and even deadlier.

A Lancet study from last year had recorded a 55% spike in heat-related deaths over 17 years in the country.

Senior citizens, or those over 65 were especially vulnerable, considering how heat-related deaths have shot up from 20,000 in 2000-2004 to 31,000 in 2017-2021 within this demographic. In spite of such stark statistics, India is yet to officially record heat-related deaths, which seems ironic as we have lost 5.4% of our GDP to heatwaves in 2021.

The metric revealed by the Climate Transparency Report finds India’s loss to be the highest among G20 nations.

Something that has been observed in the country is our utter disdain towards devising robust heat action plans (HAPs), a priority in these days of climate change induced extreme weather phenomena.

A think tank named CPR had expressed concerns on the poor status of government HAPs after it analysed 37 of these HAPs being formulated at city, district and state levels across 18 states.

The analysis said as much as 66% of India’s workers were exposed to heat in their open-air professions. But, as per the report, the HAPs are devoid of any local understanding — concentrating primarily on dry heat, although the notion of local humidity plays a significant role in turning heat conditions deadlier.

These action plans had no context on vulnerable segments, room for reviews and updates. They were also plagued by a shortage of funds, absence of legal agency and had next to no accountability.

Last year, the Union minister of earth sciences told the Parliament that the government and the Met department were working with 23 states on HAPs that were to be implemented this year.

These plans should be made a part and parcel of urban planning, going forth. Simple measures like the provision of potable water at work sites, resting shelters in outdoor spaces, as well as rescheduled and reduced work hours for vulnerable workers are little things that can go a long way in alleviating our pains from the sweltering summer.