- Why in news
- On 20 July 2026, the Housing and Urban Affairs Minister told the Rajya Sabha what the Centre and States are doing to reduce the urban heat island effect in Indian cities, including Heat Action Plans and AMRUT 2.0 measures.
- What it is
- The urban heat island effect is the warming of city areas compared with nearby rural areas. It is caused by concrete and asphalt, little vegetation and heat released by human activity. Heat Action Plans are city, district or state plans that set early warnings, response steps and long-term cooling measures, guided by NDMA's 2019 national guidelines.
- NDMA guidelines
- NDMA framed national guidelines on heat wave action plans in 2019. Cities are to assess vulnerability and put urban heat island mitigation into their Heat Action Plans.
- HAP coverage
- Heat Action Plans exist in 23 states, 195 districts and 64 cities.
- Constitutional basis
- Urban planning is a function of States and urban local bodies under the 12th Schedule. The Centre only supports through schemes, advisories and funds.
- AMRUT 2.0 heat pilot
- A pilot named 'Building Heat Resilient Cities' assesses urban heat in 12 cities, including Bengaluru, Jodhpur and Visakhapatnam.
- India Cooling Action Plan
- ICAP, released by MoEFCC, aims at sustainable cooling and thermal comfort for all by reducing cooling demand and improving energy efficiency.
- Delhi projection
- Delhi's revised climate plan projects summer maximum temperatures to rise about 1.5°C under SSP 2-4.5 and up to 2.1°C under SSP 5-8.5 by mid-century.
Don’t confuse with Heat wave vs urban heat island: A heat wave is a spell of abnormally high temperature over a region. The urban heat island is a lasting temperature gap between a city and its surroundings, which worsens heat waves in cities.
Don’t confuse with Heat Action Plan vs India Cooling Action Plan: Heat Action Plans (NDMA guidelines, local implementation) manage heat wave risk and response. The India Cooling Action Plan (MoEFCC) addresses long-term cooling demand across sectors.
Environment: Prelims tests bodies, programmes and the law behind them; Mains asks why plans fall short.
Why it matters
- Heat stress threatens health, productivity and livelihoods, especially of outdoor and informal workers.
- Linking heat plans to urban planning builds climate resilience in fast-growing cities.
Problems
- Urban planning is a State and local subject, so heat plans vary widely, and only 64 cities have HAPs.
- Many projects are incomplete: 3,458 of 4,171 approved parks and 1,104 of 2,960 waterbody projects are done.
Way forward
- Make Heat Action Plans mandatory in city planning, with vulnerability mapping and funds for urban local bodies.
- Scale up green and blue infrastructure, cool roofs and protection for informal workers.
Put in your answer
Informal workers advisory: NDMA advised States to add shaded vending zones, hydration, cooling centres and flexible hours for outdoor workers in HAPs.
SSASCI incentive: States were incentivised from 2022 to 2025 to take up sponge city planning, water body conservation and urban forests.
UPSC’s own questions that come close to this issue, from our Prelims and Mains banks.
No practice question for this one; the card may still help an answer. Why: Lasting disaster-management topic with NDMA 2019 guidelines; environment events are rare in Prelims (2 of 327).
Worth revising until Prelims 2028: most news questions come within two years of the event.