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in north india Nautapa Has started. These are the same nine days, which in our traditions and folklore have always been considered the most difficult and scorching summer time of the year.
If you dig into your childhood memories or talk to the elders at home, they tell you that in earlier times, afternoons used to be very slow and quiet these days. The markets would close by noon, people would put khus pots on the windows of their houses and the cool water from the earthen pots would absorb the heat. The nights were still hot, but bearable enough to allow the body to rest and have the energy to go to work the next morning.
It was still hot, but that heat never “Against living” Didn’t seem like it. But alas, today’s heat feels like snatching away the right to live.
Today, going out on the streets of many cities in this scorching sun of May 2026, it feels as if someone has used a huge ‘hair dryer’ on the face of the entire city. The blowing wind no longer brings drops of relief, but scorches like a direct attack on the face.
And the most shocking thing is that the meteorological department’s thermometer is not telling the true story of this changing deadly heat; rather in our homes electric meter He is shouting and screaming.
Not thermometer, electricity meter is telling the real story
India’s peak power demand (maximum demand for electricity) record this year 270 gigawatt Has touched the level of. If we talk about Uttar Pradesh alone, the demand for electricity here is 31,000 megawatt Has crossed. You will be surprised to know that about 15 years ago, the total demand of Uttar Pradesh was almost half of this.
In earlier times, when the demand for electricity increased, governments and economists considered it a sign of the country’s development and prosperity. It was believed that:
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More factories are opening.
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New industries are flourishing.
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Prosperity is coming to people’s homes.
But now this whole story and its definition has changed. Now a large part of this increasing demand for electricity in India is no longer “aspirational demand” (development demand), but it is entirely “thermal demand” (Thermal Demand) is being created.
To put it in simple words- This is a demand that is arising not from any luxury or convenience, but from the basic need to keep the human body alive.
Concrete jungle and the ‘heat trap’ of night
Now the problem is not just the scorching afternoon sun. The real crisis is that now even the nights are not giving the human body a chance to return to normal temperature. Our modern cities have now turned into ‘heat traps’.
Throughout the day, the city’s concrete buildings, asphalt roads and concrete footpaths absorb all the heat of the sun. As soon as night falls, this concrete starts releasing that heat back into the environment. The remaining work is done by the air conditioners (ACs) installed in the houses, which continuously throw boiling hot air on the streets outside to keep the rooms cool from inside. Trees are decreasing rapidly and the natural paths of air in cities have been completely blocked.
Additionally, present in the air Humidity Making this crisis more deadly. If we look at the data of the last decade, the number of extremely hot and humid days in India has increased. increased from 14,086 to 16,970 It is done. That is, such days, when not only the temperature but also the heavy humidity of the air does not allow the sweat to dry and the natural cooling system of the body completely fails.
This is the main reason why now the electricity demand graph in cities does not fall down even at 11 or 12 o’clock at night. People are not able to switch off the AC or cooler of their homes even if they want to, because the ceiling fans are only rotating the hot air falling from the sky downwards. This is not just a change in weather, it is a change in India’s entire ‘energy behaviour’.
The biggest crisis: climate change and social inequality
Amidst this blind race for electricity, a huge social and economic inequality crisis is also hidden.
The affluent class, which has a luxurious house, excellent inverter backup and every room has AC, can protect itself to some extent from the heat of this deadly heat. But what about the vast population who do not have these facilities? Their body is directly forced to bear the brunt of this changing environment.
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running on the streets delivery riders.
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ready at intersections traffic police personnel.
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sweating in the sun daily wage laborer.
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roadside vendors street vendors.
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build skyscrapers construction workers.
For these poor and working people, ‘Climate Change’ is not an international conference held behind closed doors or a big foreign speech. For them, climate change simply means burning roads, sweaty nights, sleeplessness due to heat, falling down due to dizziness and having to go to work again the next morning in the same furnace-like heat.
We are just at the beginning of a dangerous vicious cycle
The most scary thing is that according to experts, we are still in the very beginning stages of this crisis. estimated year By 2030, about 40% of houses in India will have AC. Will start being used. Just imagine, when almost half of the houses in the country will have ACs, how much electricity will our cities demand and how much heat will be thrown back into our environment.
We are entering a dangerous and deadly cycle of nature where:
This is why India’s current ‘heatwave’ is no longer just a story of weather forecast or rain predictions. This has become a huge challenge to our urban planning, public health, workers’ rights, housing policies and infrastructure. In the times to come, this crisis is going to be a real test of the good governance of governments.
Because the truth is that in many big cities of India, electricity is now becoming less a symbol of progress or wealth, and more the first and foremost condition for human survival on this scorching earth.