The 16th Finance Commission, which submitted its report to the President on November 17, 2025, formally recommended the inclusion of heatwaves and lightning in India's list of nationally notified disasters under the Disaster Management Act, 2005. This recommendation gained wide public attention following Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's budget speech on February 1, 2026, and dominated policy discussions on February 2.
The Commission has recommended a total provision of ₹2,04,401 crore for the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and the State Disaster Mitigation Fund (SDMF) for the five-year period from 2026-27 to 2030-31. Of this, the Centre's share is ₹1,55,915.85 crore, while states will bear ₹48,485.15 crore.
The recommendation is underpinned by alarming mortality data. Between 2018 and 2022, 3,798 deaths due to heat or heatwaves were recorded in India (NCRB data). In 2022 alone, lightning strikes caused 2,887 deaths — 35.8% of all 8,060 fatalities attributed to natural forces that year. A sharp rise in the number and intensity of extremely hot days has been recorded between 1981 and 2022, with severe heatwaves in 2013, 2016, 2019, 2022, and 2024.
Currently, the SDRF covers notified disasters such as cyclones, drought, earthquake, fire, flood, tsunami, hailstorm, landslide, avalanche, cloud burst, pest attack, and frost and cold wave. The inclusion of heatwaves and lightning would enable states to access dedicated central disaster funding to undertake prevention, early warning, and relief operations. Rajasthan — a state severely affected by extreme heat events in the Thar Desert region and frequently reporting lightning deaths in tribal areas — would directly benefit from this policy shift.