The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: The Rajasthan high court on Thursday, May 30 took suo motu cognizance of deaths caused by the ongoing heat wave in the state and urged the Union government to declare extreme weather events such as heat waves as national calamities.
The temperatures in Rajasthan went as high as 48.3 Degrees Celsius over the last few days. So far, five people have died in the state due to the heatwave, as per reports.
‘No Planet-B’
As per the latest India Meteorological Department (IMD) press release on May 31, Rajasthan has been witnessing heat wave conditions since May 17. Many parts of the state have experienced heat wave to severe heat wave conditions from 8.30 am on May 30 to 8.30 am on May 31, the IMD said. On May 30, Sri Ganganagar in western Rajasthan recorded the highest maximum temperature of 48.3°C in the country.
On the same day, the Rajasthan high court took suo motu cognizance of the deaths caused by the ongoing heat wave in the state. The state government reported to the high court that five people had died due to the heatwave in the state.
“Hundreds” have lost their lives this month, and the tally could run into “thousands” when considering all extreme weather events, the high court noted. It also detailed how informal workers are particularly vulnerable to these events, and that deaths caused by heatwaves are often underestimated and ascribed to heat stress.
“Unfortunately the poor who are poorly fed and have no option but to work in the scorching heat and chilling cold to get two square meals are vulnerable to these extreme weather conditions and lose their lives. The death tolls from heatwaves are very difficult to estimate since excess heat is typically not listed as the primary cause of death in the cases where the victim has a pre-existing condition such as heart or lung disease,” the single-judge bench of Justice Anoop Kumar Dhand said.
The court also commented on how climate change is causing extreme heat events, and the need to save the planet:
“Mother Earth is clearly urging a call to action. Nature is suffering. Extreme heat now-a-days crossing the temperature more than 50 Degree Celsius have affected millions of people of the State of Rajasthan and across the nation. Climate change, man-made change to nature as well as crimes that disrupt biodiversity, such as deforestation, cutting of trees, land use changes, destroying natural water bodies, etc. can accelerate the speed of destruction of the planet,” the court noted.
“Earth is the only planet which can sustain life on it. We do not have a planet-B which we can move onto,” the court added.
Further, Justice Dhand asked citizens to do their part. “A little effort of each individual human being will go a long way on everyone’s end. Each action will make a difference. We will only succeed only if everyone plays a part,” it noted.
Government not taking action
The court pulled up both the state and union governments for not following through on actions, schemes and even bills pertaining to the issue.
Though Rajasthan has developed a Heat Action Plan, it “has not given its correct effect in true letter and spirit,” the court noted. And though the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare introduced a scheme titled “Strengthening Health Systems Preparedness for Heat Related Illness (HRI) in India” for community health centres and district hospitals — which also includes planning for the summer and time periods before and after it — this has not been implemented.
“…the Government has miserably failed to implement this scheme and provisions meant for benefiting the heatstroke patients,” the court said.
Like the Delhi Heat Wave Action Plan of 2023, Rajasthan and the central government are also “supposed to prepare such Heat Wave Action Plans and take all possible, sincere and serious steps in this regard,” it said.
The court listed 17 union and state ministries and departments including the Ministry of Home Affairs and union environment ministry as respondents in its notice, and has assigned the next date of hearing of the case on July 1.
The court said given the huge number of lives that are lost due to heat waves and cold waves, these should be declared as a “national calamity”. It ordered the chief secretary of the state to constitute committees under several departments to “take immediate and appropriate steps for effective implementation of Heat Action Plan prepared under the Rajasthan Climate Change Project”.
The several instructions given by the court includes directing the Department of Health to provide “all possible facilities” at all the health centers to treat heat wave patients, and pay appropriate compensation to the next-of-kin of people who have lost their lives to heat and cold waves.
Enact pending bill on heat and cold waves
The high court also said that it was “high time” that governments implemented the Prevention of Death Due to Heat and Cold Waves Bill 2015 as law.
One of the main clauses of this bill, introduced by former Member of Parliament Rajkumar Dhoot on December 18, 2015 in the Rajya Sabha, is that severe heat or cold waves in which people lose their lives are to be declared as a “national calamity” and that the appropriate government (state, union government or both) take action accordingly.
The bill also mandates that meteorological centers should inform governments about predictions of heat or cold waves, and that governments take action – such as setting up night shelters for homeless people, erecting cooling spaces for both shade and hydration near agricultural fields, construction sites, roads, and other public spaces so that informal workers can avail of these facilities in the event of a heat wave. It also specifies that informal workers be allowed to rest between 12 noon and 3 pm during the summer season: anyone who does not permit this will suffer a penalty of imprisonment for one month and a fine of up to Rs 2 lakh.
Also read: What the Scorching Summer Does to Delhi’s Informal Workers
The bill included a clause wherein the government should prepare a long term action plan – within six months of the bill being implemented as an act – to increase preparedness, information sharing and response coordination between various ministries and government departments “to reduce the health impacts particularly deaths due to extreme heat or cold, as the case may be, on vulnerable population within its territorial jurisdiction”.
The bill also had provisions for compensation in case of deaths: that the nearest kin of the victim of the heat or cold wave be afforded a compensation of a minimum of Rs 3 lakh. The union government would have to fund all actions taken up as part of implementing this bill, once it becomes an act.
The bill, however, has not been passed yet.
“The said bill of 2015 is still lying in cold storage and has not seen the light of day in spite of passing of almost a decade,” the hight court bench noted.
As per the IMD, the ongoing heat wave conditions over northwest, central and eastern India “are likely to abate gradually” over the next two to three days.