Govt Heat‑Wave Management & Urban Greening: NDMA Guidelines, HAPs, AMRUT, NVY, ICAP

Government’s Integrated Approach to Heat‑Wave Management and Urban Greening The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) detailed how the Centre is tackling rising summer temperatures and heat‑wave hazards. The response combines disaster‑management guidelines, state‑level Heat Action Plans, and large‑scale urban‑greening programmes such as AMRUT and NVY . These measures target vulnerable groups, improve city livability, and reduce the Urban Heat Island effect. Key Developments 2023‑2026: NDMA revised its 2016 Guidelines on Heat‑Wave Action Plans (HAPs) to incorporate vulnerability assessment, built‑environment analysis, and long‑term mitigation. All heat‑wave‑prone states, including Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, have prepared and are implementing State HAPs for districts and cities. Under SSASCI , urban greening projects are funded in Bihar. The ICAP encourages adoption of the Energy Conservation and Sustainable Building Code for new commercial and residential buildings. Community‑driven initiatives such as ‘Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam’ and Women Self‑Help Group tree‑planting under the AMRUT‑Mitra programme expand citizen participation. Important Facts The NDMA guidelines require a vulnerability assessment to identify the elderly, children, outdoor workers, and urban poor. They also mandate an assessment of the UHI effect, recommending cool roofs, cool pavements, water‑body preservation, and ventilation corridors. Funding for NVY comes from the CAMPA . Grants cover fencing, soil‑moisture conservation, plantation, and maintenance. UPSC Relevance Understanding these schemes helps answer GS‑2 questions on inter‑governmental coordination and GS‑3 questions on climate change mitigation, disaster management, and sustainable urban development. The multi‑tier responsibility matrix illustrates the Centre‑State‑local partnership model, a recurring theme in governance‑related essays. Way Forward To strengthen resilience, the government should: Integrate heat‑wave indicators into the National Climate Change Action Plan. Scale up community‑led greening by linking incentives to school curricula and local bodies. Expand the ICAP code to retro‑fit existing buildings, especially in slums. Monitor and publicly report the impact of NVY and AMRUT greening on temperature reduction. These steps will deepen the climate‑resilience of Indian cities and protect the most vulnerable citizens.