Demand to include heatwave in notified disaster

Reference

Severe heat and heatwaves continue to rage in many parts of the country. However, heatwaves are not included in the notified disasters under the Disaster Management (DM) Act, 2005. Many suggestions are being made to include heatwaves in the notified disasters.

Disaster Management Act and Notified Disasters

• The Disaster Management Act was enacted in the wake of the 1999 Odisha super-cyclone and the 2004 tsunami. The Act defines disaster as a “catastrophe, accident, calamity or serious event” caused by “natural or man-made causes” resulting in significant loss of life or property, destruction of property or damage to the environment.
• According to this, this disaster should also be of such a nature that it is 'beyond the capacity to cope' of the community.
• If any of the above events occur, the provisions of the Disaster Management Act can be invoked. The provisions of this Act allow states to withdraw money from two funds established under the following law:
  • National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) at the national level and State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) at the state level.
  • States first use the funds available in SDRF. Only if the disaster cannot be managed at the level of SDRF, then the states ask for funds from NDRF.
    • Only two states have withdrawn funds from NDRF in the financial year 2023-24.

Financing of Funds

• The entire funding of NDRF is received from the central government. In SDRF also, the states provide only 25% of the funds (10% in case of special category states) while the remaining amount is received from the Centre.
• The money in these funds cannot be used for any purpose other than management of notified disasters.

Categories of disasters notified under this Act

At present, 12 categories of disasters have been notified under it: cyclone, drought, earthquake, fire, flood, tsunami, hailstorm, landslide, avalanche, cloudburst, pest attack and frost and cold wave. 

Basis of demand to include heatwave in notified disasters

• Heatwaves are a common occurrence in India, but heat-related illnesses and deaths are increasing rapidly in large parts of northern, eastern and central India.
• Both the severity and frequency of heatwaves have increased in the last 15 years. Due to the increase in economic activities, the number of people who have to stay outside for their livelihood or other reasons is very high. This puts them at risk of heat-stroke.
  • Currently there are 23 states which are highly vulnerable to heat waves.
• These states, as well as many vulnerable cities, have now prepared Heat Action Plans (HAPs) to tackle the impacts of extreme heat. HAPs include activities such as creating shade spaces, ensuring availability of cool water in public places, distribution of simple oral solutions, and restructuring working hours of schools, colleges, and offices.
  • These measures require expenditure but state governments are unable to use SDRF for these. Due to this, there is a demand to include heatwave as a notified disaster in the Disaster Management Act.
• Inclusion as a notified disaster could improve heatwave management. There would be better reporting of heat-related illnesses and deaths and officials would be more vigilant to mitigate the impacts of heatwaves.
• Including it as a notified disaster will allow states to use their disaster response funds to provide compensation and relief, as well as allow a number of other activities to help manage the impact of heatwaves.
  • Currently states are required to use their own funds for these activities.

Reasons for not including heatwave in notified disaster by the Central Government 

Reluctance of Finance Commission 

• States have raised the demand of including heatwave as a notified disaster before the last three Finance Commissions. However, the Finance Commissions are not fully convinced.
• The recommendations of the 15th Finance Commission are currently being implemented, according to which the existing list of notified disasters “substantially meets the needs of the States” and the request to include heatwaves in it was not found to be meritless.
• However, it has supported a provision made by the previous commission that allows states to use at least a part (up to 10%) of SDRF funds for “localised disasters” such as lightning or heat waves, which the states can notify themselves.
• Using this new provision, four states, namely Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Kerala, have included heat waves as local disasters.

Practical difficulties

• The main reason for the reluctance to include heat wave as a notified disaster is the huge financial loss it causes as the government will then have to pay a compensation of Rs 4 lakh for each person who dies due to a disaster included in the notified list. Compensation will also have to be given to those seriously injured.
• There is a problem in identifying deaths caused by heat waves. In most cases, the heat itself is not the cause of death, but most people die from other pre-existing diseases. This is very different from other disasters where identification of victims is easier and more straightforward.
• The 15th Finance Commission recommended allocating Rs 1,60,153 crore to various SDRFs for a period of five years between 2021-26. This amount is to deal with all types of disasters during this period. If disasters like heat and lightning are also added to this list, then this amount may also be insufficient.