In 2024, heavy floods submerged large parts of Tripura, disrupting lives and livelihoods, affecting critical infrastructure, and bringing life to a standstill in several parts of the state. Media reports suggested that the floods claimed 32 lives and displaced close to 1.5 lakh people. Barely had the floodwaters receded when the state was gripped by an unrelenting heatwave, pushing summer temperatures to record highs.
This was repeated in June 2025, when flash floods affected more than 700 houses while displacing over 11,000 people to relief camps. West Tripura and Unakoti districts were the most affected after two days of intense rain. In summer, days grew hotter and more unbearable. Temperatures rose well beyond seasonal norms by as much as 5 to 6 degrees Celsius, pushing vulnerable populations to the brink. Outdoor workers, schoolchildren, and the elderly were especially at risk. Health systems, already strained, struggled to respond to cases of heatstroke, dehydration, and water scarcity.
According to a study by IPE Global and ESRI India (2024), Tripura is now among India’s top five emerging heatwave hotspots, based on rising temperature trends and increasing exposure of vulnerable communities. Taken together, these trends suggest that weather extremes in Tripura are no longer sporadic events but recurring climatic risks.
This rapid climatic shift is already affecting lives and livelihoods across Tripura, with floods and erratic monsoons damaging agriculture, heatwaves cutting working hours for informal workers and farmers, and environmental stress deepening hardship in hilly areas, sometimes triggering outmigration. Beyond individual distress, there is a wider institutional concern. Much of Tripura’s public infrastructure is vulnerable to climate risks, with failures of critical systems such as power, communication, and essential services during heavy rain and floods repeatedly slowing recovery and adding to the strain on public finances.
The fiscal implications of this shift are evident in the state’s rising dependence on disaster response funds. Allocations under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) have increased steadily over the past six years. The table below illustrates SDRF allocations, disbursements, and additional assistance mobilised through advance releases and the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF).
| Financial Year | Total SDRF Allocation (INR Cr) | Centre’s Share of SDRF Released so far (INR Cr) | Release under NDRF (INR Cr) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020–21 | 60.8 | 54.4 | — |
| 2021–22 | 60.8 | 54.4 | — |
| 2022–23 | 63.2 | 56.8 | — |
| 2023–24 | 67.2 | 60.8 | — |
| 2024–25 | 70.4 | 71.6* | 186.4 |
| 2025–26 | 74.4 | 25.2 | — |
* Additional central assistance of INR 8.4 crore was provided as an advance under SDRF from the 2025–26 allocation.
Source: Collated from Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 1192 (2 December 2024), Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 1538 (9 December 2025), Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 348 (2 December 2025), and PIB release 2104569.
The increasing amount of central support in recent years points to the rising frequency and severity of disasters, as well as the limitations of routine budgetary provisioning in meeting such shocks. While these transfers have been critical in enabling immediate relief, they also reveal a deeper structural issue. India’s disaster financing framework remains largely reactive, relying on post-event assessments and public expenditure after losses have already occurred.
Moreover, the current model suffers from other challenges. Delays in the disbursal of funds owing to bureaucratic hurdles in assessment and estimation of losses in post-disaster situations, political disputes arising from mismatches between assessed losses and approved funds, and disparities in aid distribution are only a few of the several challenges in the existing framework. As climate-induced disasters become more frequent, the present approach risks placing sustained strain on public finances and diverting resources from planned development. For Tripura, continued reliance on emergency fiscal support is neither efficient nor resilient in the long term.
For effective management of natural calamities, Tripura needs to integrate practices emphasising prevention and mitigation of climate-related disasters and develop mechanisms for providing instant relief and rehabilitation initiatives to reduce vulnerability. The recently revised Disaster Management Act (DMA), 2025 provides a timely opportunity for this. The DMA 2025 mandates a decentralised approach to disaster preparedness, meaning that planning, risk assessment, and response protocols are no longer the sole responsibility of state-level authorities but can also be developed at the district, municipal, and village levels.
For better disaster management, Tripura could adopt a bottom-up approach, where bureaucratic and political authorities at the village, block, and district levels are empowered and given discretionary authority to utilise resources (transport, emergency services, etc.) to take proactive measures before natural disasters strike. A useful reference point is the Community-Based Disaster Preparedness (CBDP) programme developed after the devastation caused by the 1999 super cyclone and supported by the Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA). The CBDP programme is a prime example of how local knowledge and collective action can minimise loss of life and livelihoods. It invested heavily in creating local disaster management plans and standard operating procedures, including setting up community shelters, training local youth in emergency response, and organising mock drills in schools, among others.
Tripura would do well to adapt a similar model to its context, especially in flood-prone districts such as Unakoti, Dhalai, and Gomati. By training local disaster management task forces and integrating disaster risk into local development plans, the state can build a climate-resilient governance framework from the ground up.
In addition to disaster preparedness, financial resilience is equally important. Traditional post-disaster compensation models are slow, inadequate, and often mired in bureaucratic delays. Tripura could explore parametric insurance as a new financial tool. These insurance products offer payouts based on predefined triggers such as rainfall levels or heat indices, ensuring that affected communities receive immediate support without needing to prove actual loss. Furthermore, insuring critical infrastructure can minimise the financial burden on the public exchequer and reduce reconstruction delays.
Several states, including Nagaland, Uttar Pradesh, and Kerala, have successfully tested and adopted such index-based models to protect the lives and livelihoods of vulnerable communities. Alternatively, districts in Tripura with similar exposure to specific natural calamities could consider creating micro-pools and/or community-level insurance funds that spread risk and pool premiums. Such mechanisms could provide a buffer against disaster-induced poverty, especially for small farmers, marginal labourers, and micro-businesses.
That said, alternative financing mechanisms should not replace government support but rather complement it. Immediate relief and early recovery costs can be met through parametric payouts and micro-pools, ensuring that households, small farmers, and informal workers receive timely support. Government funds released through SDRF and NDRF can then be used more effectively for medium- and long-term rehabilitation, including rebuilding infrastructure, restoring livelihoods, and investing in resilience. A layered financing approach like this would reduce fiscal stress while improving response efficiency.
Climate change is no longer a future threat for Tripura but a present-day barrier to the state’s development. Managing it will require new tools, new partnerships, and new thinking. By combining decentralised preparedness under the Disaster Management Act with innovative financing instruments, Tripura can reduce its dependence on emergency public spending while protecting its most vulnerable citizens. In doing so, the state would not only safeguard its people but also set an example for other states navigating the complex terrain of climate adaptation.
Arindam Goswami is the co-founder of the Policy Consensus Centre, a socio-economic policy think tank based in New Delhi. He can be reached at: [email protected]