MPPSC 2026 Prelims Paper-I · Question 24 of 100

Correct — C, 11-12 February 2026. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) hosted the International Heat Wave Workshop 2026 on 11-12 February 2026 at Sushma Swaraj Bhawan, New Delhi, as part of its Committee on Disaster Risk Reduction international workshop series (CoDRR-10). The workshop brought together Indian and international experts on strengthening heat-wave preparedness, resilience and risk governance — deliberately timed before the March-June heat season so that state and city Heat Action Plans could be firmed up in advance.

• (a)7-8 January, 2026 — Not the announced dates. January is tempting because heat-action planning starts early in the year, but NDMA's national heat-wave workshops have themselves been February events (the 2024 edition ran 13-14 February at Vigyan Bhavan), and the 2026 international edition was notified for February too.
• (b)30-31 January, 2026 — Not the dates NDMA announced for this workshop; the event was held in the second week of February 2026.
• (d)20-21 February, 2026 — Right month, wrong week — the workshop ran on 11-12 February 2026, not on 20-21 February.

Heat waves are among the deadliest hazards in India, yet they are not among the 12 notified disasters eligible for assistance from the NDRF/SDRF — states may instead spend up to 10% of their SDRF on such locally notified disasters. India's response therefore runs through preparedness rather than relief: IMD forecasts and colour-coded warnings, NDMA's national guidelines on heat-wave management, and city and state Heat Action Plans that fix early-warning triggers, cooling centres, work-hour changes and hospital readiness. NDMA's annual pre-season workshops exist to review those plans before summer.

This is a current-affairs date-recall item, so the only defence is having tracked the event; the distractors are all plausible pre-summer slots. When such a question appears, anchor it to the substance — who hosted it (NDMA), where (Sushma Swaraj Bhawan, New Delhi) and why now (before the March-June heat season) — since MPPSC often asks the same event from a different angle in a later paper.

• International Heat Wave Workshop 2026: 11-12 February 2026, Sushma Swaraj Bhawan, New Delhi, hosted by NDMA under the CoDRR-10 series
• IMD heat-wave criteria: maximum temperature of at least 40°C in the plains, 37°C in coastal areas and 30°C in hilly regions
• Departure from normal of 4.5-6.4°C = heat wave; 6.5°C or more = severe heat wave; an actual maximum of 45°C (or 47°C) also qualifies
• Heat wave is not one of the 12 notified disasters for NDRF/SDRF funding; states can use up to 10% of SDRF for such local disasters
• Ahmedabad adopted India's first city Heat Action Plan in 2013; NDMA issued national heat-wave guidelines in 2016 and revised them in 2019

• Assuming heat wave is a notified disaster eligible for NDRF assistance — it is not
• Mixing up the IMD thresholds for plains (40°C), coastal (37°C) and hilly (30°C) areas
• Confusing NDMA's annual national heat-wave workshops with this international edition

MPPSC asks the date, host or venue of a recent national/international event; UPSC prefers the underlying policy — heat-wave criteria, Heat Action Plans and the disaster-management framework.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  According to the India Meteorological Department, a heat wave is declared in the plains when the maximum temperature reaches at least:

  • (a)35°C
  • (b)37°C
  • (c)40°C
  • (d)45°C

  Answer(c) 40°C — the threshold is 40°C for the plains, 37°C for coastal areas and 30°C for hilly regions.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) was constituted under which law?

  • (a)The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986
  • (b)The Disaster Management Act, 2005
  • (c)The National Green Tribunal Act, 2010
  • (d)The Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897

  Answer(b) The Disaster Management Act, 2005 — NDMA is chaired by the Prime Minister and works under the Ministry of Home Affairs.