Why in the News?
The unprecedented surge in electricity demand offers a glimpse into the kind of stress that critical infrastructure endures during extreme weather events and resulting disasters.

Present Challenges in India -> High Temperatures and Electricity Demand:

• Record-breaking Electricity Demand: Delhi experienced record-breaking electricity demand due to persistently high temperatures.
• Frequent Power Cuts: The high demand led to frequent power cuts in Delhi and neighbouring areas.
• Worsening Conditions: Other regions in central and eastern India faced similar or worse situations, with high night temperatures exacerbating the situation.
• Heat-related Deaths: The lack of electricity and high temperatures likely contributed to several heat-related deaths.

Mounting Losses:

• Increased Economic Losses: Despite early warnings and quick responses reducing human casualties, economic and other losses from extreme weather events and disasters have been rising due to their increasing frequency and intensity.
• Government Expenditure: States spent over Rs 1.5 lakh crore between 2018 and 2023 on disaster and natural calamity aftermaths.
• Long-term Costs: Long-term costs include livelihood losses and reduced agricultural land fertility, which are projected to worsen over time.
• Job Losses: A 2022 World Bank report projected that heat-related stress could result in a loss of around 34 million jobs in India by 2030.
• Food Wastage: Food wastage due to non-air-conditioned transportation is estimated at about $9 billion annually.
• Uncounted Infrastructure Damage: Damage to critical infrastructure like transportation, telecommunications, and power supply is often uncounted in government figures, particularly for privately owned services, causing massive disruptions.

Incorporating Resilience:

• Disaster Management Plans: Infrastructure sectors have disaster management plans to prepare and respond to events, such as backup power supplies for hospitals, waterlogging prevention for airports and railways, and underground telecommunication lines.
• Slow Progress: Despite plans, much of India’s infrastructure remains extremely vulnerable to disasters.
• Future Infrastructure: India is still developing much of its infrastructure, and it is more cost-effective to incorporate disaster resilience during construction than to retrofit later. Upcoming projects need to be climate-smart, sustainable, energy-efficient, and disaster-resilient.

Note: CDRI’s Created in 2019, CDRI aims to make critical infrastructure resilient to natural disasters. It serves as a knowledge hub and collaborates with over 30 countries, but only a few Indian states have engaged with CDRI.

Way Forward:

• Proactive Infrastructure Planning and Investment: Future infrastructure projects in India must integrate disaster resilience at the planning and construction stages. This approach ensures that new developments are sustainable, energy-efficient, and capable of withstanding extreme weather events, reducing the need for costly retrofits later.  
• Collaboration with Expert Bodies and Adoption of Best Practices: States and infrastructure sectors should actively seek expertise and collaboration from organisations like the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI).  

Mains question for practice: 

Q Discuss the implications of extreme weather events on critical infrastructure in India, citing recent examples. What measures can be taken to enhance the resilience of infrastructure against such events? 15M

Mains PYQ:

Q Describe the benefits of deriving electric energy from sunlight in contrast to conventional energy generation. What are the initiatives offered by our government for this purpose? (UPSC IAS/2020)

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