From the Opinions Editor: Dealing with heat waves and floods is a knowledge challenge

Indian Express

9 hours ago

Dear Express Reader,
The first half of 2025 has been a textbook case of the chaos wrought on weather systems by climate change. It has been another hot year, but the record-breaking temperatures have not been during the summer months. People in India experienced the hottest January since 1958. By February, not only was the cool weather in retreat, but the rising temperatures had also obscured spring in several parts of the country. It was the hottest that India has been in the second month of the year since 1900 – the national average temperature was 1.35 degrees above normal. The IMD issued its first heatwave alert for the summer as early as April. But May had none of the scorching temperatures usually associated with the month. Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru set rainfall-related records. Heat returned to North India in the first half of June. Showers have brought some relief to the people and like parts of South India and Maharashtra, the region could experience an early rainy season if the IMD forecast holds true.
In recent years, another factor has made the hot weather more taxing for Indians. In several parts of the country, the summer months are becoming stressful not just because of the high temperature. The moisture in the air inhibits the body's ability to cool down through the natural mechanism of sweating. The strain is felt most acutely by outdoor workers – like construction workers, farmers, street vendors and food delivery partners. A growing body of scholarship shows that their bodies are exposed to heat all day and do not get a chance to cool down even during the night. A World Bank study shows that more than 34 million jobs in India could be at risk in the next five years due to heat exposure. Between 2001 and 2020, India lost around 259 billion hours of labour—worth US$ 624 billion (INR 46 lakh crore) annually—due to extreme heat and humidity.
The humidity is the result of multiple weather systems around the country which, in turn, are fuelled by the general warming of the the seas. If this wasn't enough, the atmospheric instability caused by moist winds from the Bay of Bengal has left its mark in several parts of the country. More than 150 people lost their lives due to lightning strikes in March and April – a more than 180 per cent rise compared to last year. Bihar's disaster management authority records show that lightning strikes claimed more than 90 lives between April 9 and April 14. The state has always been a hotspot for lightning-related calamities. But these would typically happen in June-July.
Rain brings some relief but also leaves disruption in its wake. This year, the earliest onset of the monsoon over Mumbai coincided with the city breaking a 100-year-old record for rainfall in May. Large parts of India's financial capital, including a newly-built Metro station, went under water reminding policymakers of the vulnerability of the country's economy to climate risks. The downpour exposed at least 50 new waterlogging sites in the city. In the past two weeks, several parts of Pune have been inundated. Bengaluru too has experienced disruptive floods and parts of northeast have been badly hit by landslides.
The growing threat of climate stress calls for urgent mid- and long-term strategies—both structural and non-structural—to limit economic and social fallout. But first things first. Climate change and erratic weather are contributing factors: The underlying issues related to many of the problems faced by people relate to longstanding systemic gaps in planning, land use, and infrastructure management.
Experts have underlined that most Indian cities are about 2 degrees C hotter than nearby rural areas. The concrete, asphalt and bricks used for urban infrastructure, roads, buildings and pavements, soak up and retain heat. These materials are part of an engineering paradigm that relies on the use of strong materials to construct sturdy offices, houses and roads. The belief that they would withstand all kinds of weather hasn't proved unfounded. But it's increasingly become evident that buildings are a source of extreme nighttime heat worldwide, including India.
Cities are both a product of people's aspirations and harbingers of their progress. But urban authorities in India have paid short shrift to the natural capacities of cities to deal with excess water. Whether in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, or Delhi, urban development—planned and unplanned — has meant the loss of natural water sinks, exacerbating their vulnerability to climate risks.
It's now evident that most of India will live in cities in the coming years. Will these cities be heat resilient? How will they deal with short but intense bursts of rainfall? Climate science has helped us why we live in unpredictable times. The challenge now is to come to terms with the chaos.
Green buildings and climate-friendly planning are now part of the curricula in some of the top engineering and architecture institutes. That will not be enough. Climate-proofing cities require a paradigm shift in construction science curricula across the country. Technology is, however, only a part of the challenge. The weather vagaries pose broader questions to knowledge and pedagogical systems — they are as serious as the questions posed by AI and automation. The environment has become mainstream to an extent. But all too often in educational institutes, it's another box to be ticked. Climate-proofing habitats and making people resilient to weather vagaries requires classrooms to engage with heat, rain, lightning, mountains, oceans, rivers, lakes, and drains as part of the lived realities of communities – the beginning should be made in schools.
Till next time,
Stay well
Kaushik