Rising temperature: Public policy responses must become proactive

April this year recorded the highest maximum temperature in the past three years and the warmest night in the past six. With each year surpassing earlier ones in heat stress, the need for a more effective public-policy response to heat-related risks is growing urgent. Though heatwaves are common across northern India during April-June, their duration and intensity have steadily increased. Last year, for instance, the country faced record-breaking heatwave days, resulting in over 40,000 heatstroke cases and 143 deaths. There is no shortage of forecasts and early-warning systems predicting increasingly scorching summers. By the first week of April, for instance,