- By JVG Krishna Murthy
- 0 Comments
- June 15, 2026
LIVE Webinar – 27th June 2026
Extreme Heat in India – Technology & Policy Options
Saturday ~ June 27, 2026
10 am EST, 7:00 am PST, 7:30 pm IST
(Registration is Free)
Webinar Panelists
Dr. Ashok Gadgil ~ Professor Emeritus @ UC Berkeley
Mr. Mahesh Gaikwad ~ AVP, EHS, Tata Realty & Infrastructure Ltd
Mr. Gaurav Agrawal, IAS ~ Collector & District Magistrate of Udaipur
Prof. Anil K Gupta ~ Professor – IIT Roorkee ICARS, Sr. ICIMOD Fellow – DRR
Mr. Ajit Seth ~ Cabinet Seretary (Retd.), Govt of India
Webinar Chair
Dr. Amit Pramanik – Vice President Operations, WGF
Webinar Moderator
Dr. Ram Ramanan – Cofounder ImpactEdge & Chair, Sustainability Council, WGF
Webinar Co‑Moderator
Dr. Prasad Modak – Co‑Chair, Sustainability Council, WGF
Webinar Summary
The 47-Degree Problem – Why India’s Heat Action Plans Must Move from Paper to Practice. India is in the grip of another punishing summer, with temperatures in the high 40s°C across large parts of the country — and the trend is worsening. The health, productivity, and economic costs are enormous: India lost 247 billion potential labour hours to heat exposure in 2024 alone, a 124% increase over 1990s levels.
Several states have developed Heat Action Plans (HAPs), but the harder challenge lies in implementation. Despite national guidelines, HAPs across states often lack scientific rigor, dedicated funding, and context-specific frameworks. Funding remains constrained because quantifying heat-related loss is difficult, and heatwaves are still not a nationally notified disaster under the Disaster Management Act, blocking access to NDRF and limiting SDRF use to 10% for states that have not independently declared heat a local disaster. The 16th Finance Commission has recommended changing this, but the gap persists.”
Closing this gap requires stronger institutional mandates, integration of heat resilience into state planning, innovations in technology, and dedicated financing mechanisms. In this webinar, four experts explore both the technology and governance dimensions: what is working, where structural barriers lie, and what decision-makers at state and local levels can do now.
Saturday ~ June 27, 2026
10 am EST, 7:00 am PST, 7:30 pm IST
(Registration is Free)
You can join the webinar 15 min early (i.e. 09:45 AM EST OR 7:15 PM IST) to watch the slide show on WGF-related projects & videos.
WHEELS Global Foundation is an initiative of global IIT Alumni community and joined by hundreds of mission-aligned professionals such as doctors & lawyers, with the mission of Technology-Enabled Philanthropy at-scale. WHEELS has also been selected by NITI Aayog, Govt. of India as a member of the Committee for Innovation and Technology Transfer. WHEELS has also signed an MOU with the Ministry for Panchayati Raj for a technology partnership in Rural Development.WHEELS Global Foundation received a Poshan Award from Sadguru Sai Madhusudhan of the Sri Sathya Sai Annapurna Trust for impacting 10 million children. This award recognized WGF's work in nutritional health, maternal and newborn care, and telehealth innovation."
Panelists Overview
An IIT-Kanpur alumni, Dr. Ashok Gadgil has recently published a pioneering work to enable Heat Modeling from the national level to district level so district leaders can make data-driven decisions. He is a retired Senior Faculty Scientist, and formerly the co-lead for the Water-Energy initiative for the Energy Technologies Area at LBNL. He has a Ph.D. in physics from University of California, Berkeley. His expertise ranges from computational fluid dynamics of indoor air and pollutant flows, simulation of entry and transport of indoor radon, building energy efficiency, and methods to treat drinking water to make it potable. He has more than 135 refereed archival journal papers, 120 conference papers, and several patents. His work has won national and international recognition with several prestigious honors and awards. He held a concurrent appointment on the UC Berkeley Campus as Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering. (Dr. Ashok Gadgil | LinkedIn)
Mr. Mahesh Gaikwad is the Assistant Vice President & Head – Environment, Health & Safety (EHS), Tata Realty & Infrastructure Ltd. Mahesh is a seasoned EHS leader with over two decades of experience in construction and real estate safety management. As AVP & Head of EHS at Tata Realty, he drives sustainability, compliance, and occupational health initiatives across the company’s nationwide projects.
Previously, he held senior leadership roles at Shapoorji Pallonji, Gammon India, DLF Projects, and HCC, where he managed safety operations across hundreds of sites pan-India. His expertise spans corporate HSE strategy, large-scale project safety oversight, and energy management. Mahesh holds advanced diplomas in Environmental Engineering and Energy Management & Audit, and is widely recognized for his contributions to occupational health and construction safety. Beyond his corporate role, he is the founder of the Ramakrishna Vivekananda Kalyan Foundation, dedicated to socio-spiritual service. He is based in Mumbai and is fluent in English, Hindi, and Marathi.. (Mr. Mahesh Gaikwad | LinkedIn)
Mr. Gaurav Agrawal is an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the 2014 batch from the Rajasthan cadre. Mr. Agrawal recently served as the District Magistrate of Jodhpur, a region of the Thar Desert, with temperatures regularly touching the high 40s and some of the toughest climate challenges. He did his B.Tech.(Comp. Sci.) from IIT Kanpur and MBA in Finance from IIM Lucknow. (Mr. Gaurav Agrawal | LinkedIn)
Dr. Anil Kumar Gupta is an eminent researcher and policy expert in climate adaptation, disaster risk assessment & management. After leading the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) under the Ministry of Home Affairs of Govt of India, he is now co-leading a new Center of Excellence @ IIT Roorkee – The Integrated Centre for Adaptation to Climate Change, Disaster Risk Reduction and Sustainability (ICARS), a premier Centre of Excellence established by the Government of India’s Department of Science and Technology (DST). Dr Gupta has held senior roles at CSIR-NEERI, National Mineral Development Corp (MNDC), Disaster Management Institute of the Government of Madhya Pradesh, and written numerous books on climate, disaster, risk and planning topics. He also serves as Senior Fellow representing India at ICIMOD, and has published several hundred articles in these domains. (Prof Anil Kumar Gupta | Linkedin)
Mr. Ajit Seth is an Indian civil servant who was the 30th Cabinet Secretary of the Republic of India. Upon retirement from the post of Cabinet Secretary, Ajit Kumar Seth was appointed as Chairman of Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB). Seth served as First Secretary in the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations at Geneva. Earlier in the 1980s, Mr. Seth served in the Ministry of Commerce and he served for over 3 years as First Secretary in the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations at Geneva, Switzerland.
While in the state of Uttar Pradesh, Mr. Seth served as Principal Secretary (Rural Development), Principal Secretary (Vigilance) and Secretary (Home and Confidential) besides stints in the Industries and Cooperatives Departments. He also served as Divisional Commissioner of Kumaon Division in Nainital and District Magistrate of Mainpuri and Lucknow districts.
He earned Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Chemistry from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi and also MPhil in Life Sciences from the Jawaharlal Nehru University. He later earned a master’s degree in Development Finance from the University of Birmingham. (Mr. Ajit Seth)
Dr. Amit Pramanik is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (IIT-KGP) and Virginia Tech, Blacksburg. He has more than 30 years of experience in the Water Sector. Amit is a Board-Certified Environmental Engineering Member (BCEEM) of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists. Most recently, he served as Executive Director of the One Water Academy, a US registered nonprofit organization, with a vision to equip governments, utilities, industry, academia, nonprofits and the community with the skills and knowledge needed to effectively leverage technologies as we move towards a “one water” economy, where water reuse becomes a critical method of mitigating water shortage issues globally. (Amit Pramanik | LinkedIn)
Dr. Raghavan Ramanan (“Ram”) Dr. Raghavan Ramanan (Dr. Ram) is the Board Member, Chair of the Sustainability Council and the Global Co-convenor of WGF Chapters. Dr. Raghavan Ramanan, a Fulbright Leadership Scholar, is a Cofounder and Chief Scientific Officer of ImpactEdge, Inc. Dr. Ram is a globally recognized expert in Sustainability, ESG and CSR through experience garnered over four decades in corporate (ExxonMobil), consulting (AECOM, ICF and Trinity), and academic environments (Illinois Institute of Technology, Desert Research Institute, and Indian Institute of Technology).
He also serves as a Board Member and the Chair of the Education Council of the Education Council of Air & Waste Management Association, International (Founded 1907). Dr. Ram has authored multiple books, presented, and published scientific, technical, and management papers as well as thought leadership briefings worldwide. He delivered the Fall 2019 Commencement Speech at the University of Texas at Dallas. Dr. Ram is a Professional Engineer in Texas and India, a Chartered Engineer and Scientist in UK and a Board-Certified Environmental Engineer of the National Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists. (Dr. Ram Ramanan | LinkedIn)
Dr. Prasad Modak is a sustainability strategist, scholar–practitioner, and advisor whose work has shaped environmental governance and sustainable investment across Asia, Africa, and beyond. He holds engineering degrees from IIT Bombay and a Doctor of Engineering from the Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok. He has served as Professor at IIT Bombay and is currently Visiting Professor in Practice at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment. Dr. Modak leads the Environmental Management Centre Pvt. Ltd. and Ekonnect Knowledge Foundation, advancing sustainability education, CSR, and enterprise mentoring. Over four decades, he has advised institutions such as the World Bank, IFC, ADB, UNEP, UNDP, and governments worldwide, translating sustainability into operational strategies and financing structures. An accomplished author, he has received international lifetime achievement honours for his contributions to responsible development. (Dr. Prasad Modak | LinkedIn)
Related Reading:
♦ The research paper on “Estimating excess mortality from heat waves in India’s districts”.
♦ Op Ed on “Why India’s Heat Planning is in the Hot Sea“.
♦ Article in Live Mint: “The 48° Celsius ceiling: how heat could cap India’s economic emergence”
