Written by: Nikita, Bhargabi Ghosh3 min readJul 6, 2026 06:34 AM IST First published on: Jul 6, 2026 at 06:34 AM ISTAccording to data compiled by AQI.in, 97 Indian cities featured among the world’s top 100 hottest cities in May. Banda in Bundelkhand, Balangir in Odisha, Sasaram in Bihar and Varanasi in UP all hovered around 47 -48℃. A few weeks before , the Union Cabinet approved India’s revised Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement, pledging to expand its carbon sink through forest and tree cover, increase non-fossil power capacity to 60 per cent, and reduce GDP emissions intensity by 47 per cent from 2005 levels by 2035. India has a strong record of meeting climate commitments. Yet the institutions dealing most directly with water stress, changing rainfall patterns and livelihood disruptions — gram panchayats — remain at the margins of climate planning.Across rural India, climate change is reshaping everyday life. Farmers who once planned their sowing around fairly predictable monsoons now find themselves guessing when the rains will arrive and whether they will last long enough to sustain a crop. In many places, wells run dry before summer has ended and households are changing what they grow and eat. This is particularly consequential when set against rural-to-urban migration that is reshaping India’s demographic geography.AdvertisementIt has been over three decades since the 73rd Amendment identified 29 subjects for devolution to gram panchayats, including water management, agriculture, social forestry and natural resource management, which sit at the centre of India’s adaptation challenge today. The 16th Finance Commission, for the first time, integrated climate factors into its devolution recommendations. But the Panchayat Advancement Index 2.0 (PAI) and the Panchayat Devolution Index both show that functional devolution has declined in the same period. Without effective financial transfers, meaningful procedural authority, and genuine planning power, gram panchayats struggle to effectively respond to climate change.There are many proven local models that demonstrate what becomes possible when gram panchayats are supported: Hiware Bazar in Maharashtra transformed a drought-prone landscape through watershed management, helped in part by lessons from neighbouring Ralegan Siddhi. A water conservation model from Bela in Maharashtra has direct relevance for a gram panchayat facing drought in Garhwal. The way a gram panchayat in Bokaro has used District Mineral Foundation funds for ecological restoration offers a working template for similar efforts in Chhattisgarh. Weather-risk management practices from Kerala’s coastal gram panchayats can inform flood-prone communities in Assam. The Conference of Panchayats initiative, which has engaged more than 1,100 gram panchayats across five states, has shown that when local representatives have opportunities to exchange what works, solutions travel faster.Three things would give ambitious climate targets a local foundation. First, the NAPCC and State Action Plans should formally bring gram panchayats in as planning partners with defined responsibilities and financial transfers. Second, PAI’s nine thematic areas should connect high-performing panchayats with lagging ones in the same region, so that solutions move laterally rather than top down. Third, the 16th Finance Commission’s climate-linked devolution must be paired with the procedural authority for gram panchayats to plan, not only to spend.AdvertisementNikita is consultant, Public Policy Advisory. Ghosh is associate director, Strategic Communications & Public Policy Advisory, Policy & Development Advisory Group