The 16th Finance Commission has recommended adding heatwaves and lightning to India’s national disaster list
Panel cites rising deaths, extreme heat and a sharp increase in lightning strikes
Recommendation would allow states to access disaster funds more directly
Rs 1.4 lakh crore in Finance Commission grants allocated to states for 2026-27
The 16th Finance Commission has recommended that heatwaves and lightning strikes be included in India’s list of nationally notified disasters, citing their growing impact and rising death toll. It has also backed the continuation of a system that allows states to spend up to 10 per cent of their disaster relief funds on locally severe events not on the national list.
The recommendation comes as finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced Rs 1.4 lakh crore in Finance Commission grants to states for the 2026-27 financial year, including allocations for disaster management, rural bodies and urban local bodies.
Presenting the Union Budget on February 1, 2026, Sitharaman said the 16th Finance Commission had submitted its report to the President on November 17, 2025. Under Article 281 of the Constitution, the government is required to table the Commission’s report in Parliament along with an explanatory memorandum detailing the action taken on its recommendations.
She said the government had accepted the Commission’s recommendation to retain the Centre’s share in tax devolution at 41 per cent.
“As recommended by the Commission, I have provided Rs 1.4 lakh crore to the States for the FY 2026-27 as Finance Commission Grants. These include rural and urban local body and disaster management grants,” the finance minister said.
In its report, the Commission said it had taken into account actual disaster-related expenditure incurred by states over several years while allocating funds to the National Disaster Fund. This included spending between 2015-16 and 2023-24, revised estimates for 2024-25 and budget estimates for 2025-26.
These figures were adjusted upwards by 5 per cent to account for inflation, after which the average expenditure over the past 11 years was increased by a further 10 per cent. This resulted in an allocation of Rs 14,370 crore for disaster-related spending in 2026-27.
For the five-year period from 2026-27 to 2030-31, the Commission has recommended a total provision of Rs 2,04,401 crore for the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and the State Disaster Mitigation Fund (SDMF).
Of this, Rs 1,55,915.85 crore will be the Centre’s share, while Rs 48,485.15 crore is to be borne by states. The cost-sharing ratio has been fixed at 75:25 between the Centre and states for non-north-eastern and non-hill states, and 90:10 for north-eastern and hill states.
The Commission also recommended that 80 per cent of the total allocation be directed towards the SDRF and 20 per cent towards the SDMF. This translates to Rs 163,521 crore for the SDRF and Rs 40,880 crore for the SDMF over the five-year period.
At present, disasters covered under the SDRF include cyclones, droughts, earthquakes, fires, floods, tsunamis, hailstorms, landslides, avalanches, cloudbursts, pest infestations, frost and cold waves.
States are also permitted to use up to 10 per cent of their SDRF allocation for providing immediate relief in disasters that are not included in the national list but are considered severe at the local level. However, this is subject to the state formally notifying such disasters and laying down clear rules and guidelines, approved by the State Executive Committee.
The Commission has recommended that this flexibility for states be continued.
The Commission noted a growing demand from states to recognise heatwaves as a nationally notified disaster. So far, 11 states have already declared heatwaves as state-specific disasters, and several others have submitted representations seeking their inclusion in the national list.
According to the Commission, extreme heat disproportionately affects vulnerable and sensitive populations. Data show a sharp rise in both the number and intensity of extremely hot days in India between 1981 and 2022, with severe heatwaves recorded in 2013, 2016, 2019, 2022 and 2024.
The number of extremely hot nights has also increased significantly over the past decade. During such nights, the human body is unable to recover from daytime heat, increasing the risk of heat-related illnesses such as heatstroke.
Official data from the National Crime Records Bureau and the Union Ministry of Home Affairs show that 3,798 deaths due to heat or heatwaves were recorded in India between 2018 and 2022.
The Commission has also flagged lightning as a rapidly escalating threat. Citing the Annual Lightning Report (2020-21), prepared in collaboration with the India Meteorological Department, it said there was a 34 per cent increase in lightning strikes across the country during the period. Around 18.5 million lightning strikes were recorded in 2020-21 — 4.7 million more than the previous year.
NCRB data show that lightning has emerged as the leading cause of deaths due to natural disasters in India. In 2022 alone, lightning accounted for 2,887 deaths — 35.8 per cent of the 8,060 fatalities attributed to natural disasters that year.
In light of these trends, the Commission concluded that both heatwaves and lightning should be formally recognised as national disasters, allowing states to access disaster relief funds more directly and consistently to respond to their growing impact.