I had no idea what a Heat Action Plan was, until a few days ago. This isn’t surprising given how critical information is often lost amidst headlines proclaiming the government of India as the world’s most efficient. It’s still weird that this hasn’t been talked about more though, given the government’s obsession with telling everyone how it has plans for everything. Heat Action Plans focus on that critical word ‘action’, so I expect they will start to appear more often in the years to come. At the end of the day, plans matter, even if they don’t work. It’s about public relations and keeping up appearances.

For those as uninformed as I am, here’s what a Heat Action Plan (HAP) means. Apparently, governments at the state, district and city levels have prepared them to increase general preparedness and lower the adverse impacts of extreme heat. They supposedly do this by outlining measures and strategies to help us cope with heatwaves that are predicted to become more routine. Remember the heatwave warning issued a month or so ago? It was all part of a HAP.