The World Bank warned that India could become one of the first places where wet-bulb temperatures routinely exceed 35 °C. Which of the following statements best reflect(s) the implication of the above-said report?
- I.Peninsular India will most likely suffer from flooding, tropical cyclones and droughts.
- II.The survival of animals including humans will be affected as shedding of their body heat through perspiration becomes difficult.
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
Answer & explanation
Answer: (c) Both I and II
UPSC's official answer: (c) · the answer UPSC accepted, and the one that counts in the exam
What we believe is right: (b)
- Statement II is the direct implication. Wet-bulb temperature combines heat and humidity; 'as the wet-bulb temperature approaches your core temperature, you lose the ability to cool down' (NASA), and the World Bank treats 35 °C as the point where heat waves 'break the human survivability limit'.
- Statement I is not an implication of that warning. The World Bank report (Climate Investment Opportunities in India's Cooling Sector, 2022) projects the 35 °C threshold for 'the Chota Nagpur Plateau and North-Eastern India', and nowhere mentions floods, tropical cyclones, droughts or peninsular India.
- A warning about heat stress does not imply a forecast of flooding and cyclones for a different region, so a strict reading accepts II only: (b).
- UPSC's key accepts both, presumably reading the warning as one face of climate change over India whose other faces are floods, cyclones and drought.
UPSC's key accepts both statements; the report itself supports only II, giving (b). In the exam, when the stem says 'best reflect(s) the implication' and 'Both' is offered, UPSC has accepted a broad climate-impact statement alongside the direct one; but know what the report actually says.
- World Bank (2022): Climate Investment Opportunities in India's Cooling Sector, the warning ↗“Soon India could become one of the first places in the world to experience heat waves that break the human survivability limit”
- World Bank (2022): Climate Investment Opportunities in India's Cooling Sector, where 35 °C is projected ↗“climate models project that these temperatures could exceed the survivability threshold (that is, 35°C) at a few locations in the Chota Nagpur Plateau and North-Eastern India under future climate scenarios”
- NASA Science: Too Hot to Handle, how wet-bulb temperature stops the body cooling ↗“But as the wet-bulb temperature approaches your core temperature, you lose the ability to cool down.”
This box is Minimalist IAS's analysis, with its sources; it does not change UPSC's answer.
UPSC's key accepts both statements. Statement II is the direct implication: wet-bulb temperature combines heat and humidity, and as it nears the body's core temperature sweat can no longer evaporate fast enough to shed heat, so survival itself is threatened. Statement I is counted as the wider implication: the key reads the warning as a sign of a climate system under stress over India, whose other faces are flooding, tropical cyclones and drought.
- ✓ I UPSC's key counts this as an implication. The report's warning of routine 35 °C wet-bulb readings signals a warmer, moister atmosphere over India; the key reads the hazards that go with such warming — heavier rain and flooding, stronger cyclones on the peninsula's coasts, longer dry spells — as part of what the warning implies.
- ✓ II Wet-bulb temperature combines heat and humidity. Near the body's core temperature, sweat cannot evaporate enough to cool the body (NASA), and the World Bank treats 35 °C as that survivability threshold.
Remember · Wet-bulb temperature combines heat and humidity. Near 35 °C sweat cannot cool the body, so survival is at risk; the World Bank flagged India as an early case.
Sources
- World Bank (2022): Climate Investment Opportunities in India's Cooling Sector ↗ “Soon India could become one of the first places in the world to experience heat waves that break the human survivability limit … climate models project that these temperatures could exceed the survivability threshold (that is, 35°C) at a few locations in the Chota Nagpur Plateau and North-Eastern India under future climate scenarios”
- NASA Science: Too Hot to Handle: How Climate Change May Make Some Places Too Hot to Live ↗ “As long as the wet-bulb temperature is well below your skin temperature, your body can release heat to your surroundings through radiation and sweating. But as the wet-bulb temperature approaches your core temperature, you lose the ability to cool down.”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2025, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). ·