What happened: heatwaves gained full eligibility under State Disaster Risk Management Fund support

India’s disaster financing framework for States expanded heatwave eligibility so that States can use full support under the State Disaster Risk Management Fund for heat-related risk management. The expansion followed changes communicated to Parliament, and it changes how States treat heatwaves compared with the earlier approach.

Background: Finance Commission-linked disaster funding and the SDRF–mitigation separation

The Finance Commission influences disaster-related fund design for States through its recommendations under Article 280 of the Constitution (Finance Commission’s remit). For States, disaster funding is structured with two commonly distinguished components: State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF): supports immediate relief, disaster response, and reconstruction.State Disaster Mitigation Fund: supports longer-term risk reduction measures to reduce future disaster impact.

What changed now: removal of the earlier heatwave limitation

Before the change, heatwaves had a less favourable treatment in disaster financing. States could notify heat locally and use SDRF, but SDRF use for heatwaves was subject to a ceiling of up to 10% of annual allocation along with additional separate norms. Other disasters such as floods and cyclones were not described as having the same limitation in the same way.

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