Climate change is not merely an environmental issue but a governance and social justice challenge.

Q. Climate change is not merely an environmental issue but a governance and social justice challenge. (15 marks, 250-350 words)

Climate change in India is increasingly a question of who bears the burden. Rising heat is no longer an episodic weather event but a structural hazard mediated by occupation, caste, gender and institutional capacity — making it as much a governance and social justice test as an ecological one.

Climate impacts fall unequally — the social justice dimension - Occupational exposure: over 2.4 billion workers globally face excessive heat, causing about 22.85 million occupational injuries annually — concentrated among agriculture, construction and sanitation workers [1][4]. - Caste and informality: urban sanitation work is caste-stratified and largely contractual, leaving workers outside the Factories Act, 1948 and BOCW Act, 1996, hence outside occupational safety protection. - Gendered burden: women outdoor workers face compounded risk through limited rest and sanitation facilities. - Urban heat island effect intensifies exposure for city workers relative to rural peers.

Governance deficits — the institutional dimension - Fragmentation: climate action rests with MoEFCC, occupational health with the Ministry of Labour, urban services with MoHUA — no single agency owns the intersection. - Capacity gap: 34 States/UTs have prepared State Action Plans on Climate Change, but Urban Local Bodies lack dedicated climate cells to operationalise them [3]. - Reactive, advisory-led response: the Ministry of Labour's nationwide Heatwave Advisory urges rescheduled hours, drinking water and rest areas, yet remains non-binding on employers [2].

Corrective steps under way - NAPCC (2008) explicitly rests on protecting the poor and vulnerable through inclusive development, with six of its eight missions adaptation-oriented [3]. - India's NDC (2031–2035), Cabinet-approved for UNFCCC, is framed around equity, CBDR-RC and climate justice [5]. - WHO–WMO guidance (2025) recommends national occupational heat-action programmes with legal backing [1].

Climate policy succeeds only when adaptation reaches the last worker. Converting advisories into enforceable heat-stress standards, embedding climate-health clauses in municipal sanitation contracts, and equipping ULBs with climate cells would align India's climate ambition with Article 21 and SDG 13, making inclusion the instrument of resilience rather than its afterthought.

(~330 words)

Sources: 1. WHO–WMO, Climate change and workplace heat stress: technical report and guidance (22 Aug 2025) — 2.4 billion workers exposed; 22.85 million heat-related occupational injuries; call for national occupational heat-action programmes 2. PIB, Ministry of Labour & Employment Issues Nationwide Heatwave Advisory to Protect Workers and Labourers — advisory measures: rescheduled hours, drinking water, rest and cooling areas 3. PIB, National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) — eight missions, adaptation orientation, protection of the poor and vulnerable; 34 States/UTs with SAPCCs 4. ILO, Ensuring safety and health at work in a changing climate — outdoor and informal workers as the most heat-exposed groups 5. PIB, Cabinet approves India's Nationally Determined Contribution (2031–2035) to be communicated to the UNFCCC — equity, CBDR-RC and climate justice framing