Banda is a tiny town and district in Uttar Pradesh’s Bundelkhand region, but has gained notoriety for recording the highest temperature in the world on Tuesday, May 19, at 48.2 degrees Celsius. It had also topped the world’s heat chart at 47.6 C on April 27; and the town’s all-time high was 49.2 C on June 10, 2019.
Global warming is an urgent concern every government in the world must address. Photos by AFP file
Mohammad Danish, a scientist at the India Meteorological Department’s Lucknow office, told the media that the hard and stony surface of Bundelkhand aggravates the situation.
The exposed rocky terrain absorbs heat quickly, but releases it slowly. Adding to Banda’s woes is the large-scale sand mining activities that go on in the district and the steep fall in water levels in the river.
Environmentalists point out that about 3,000 trucks carry sand extracted daily from the Ken river. Mining has resulted in the drying of rivers and water bodies, drastically reducing groundwater recharge.
Arjun P. Varma, assistant professor at Banda Agriculture University, told reporters that one of the major reasons for the heat are large-scale mining and agricultural encroachment inside forests.
In Banda town during the summer months, most residents begin work early morning. By 10am, the entire place shuts down as people return home. And it continues till late in the evening, when people gradually return to the streets.
AQI.in, an Indian environmental services platform, in a recent report identified Banda as the hottest city in the world. “Banda sits in the Bundelkhand region of south Uttar Pradesh — a semi-arid plateau long known for brutal summers and chronic water scarcity,” said the report.
“On April 27, it recorded the highest average temperature of any city on earth. Its minimum was 34.7°C. That means even at its coolest — the hours after midnight — Banda was hotter than what most of Europe considers a dangerous summer heatwave.”
Shockingly, all of the 50 cities listed by it as being among the ‘World’s top 50 hottest cities’ in April 2026, were located in India.
“Not one entry from the Middle East. Not one from sub-Saharan Africa. Not one from Australia. India occupied the entire list, from rank 1 to rank 50,” the report pointed out. Across all 50 cities, the average peak temperature on April 27 was 44.7 degrees C. “The coolest maximum on the entire list — Solapur (in Maharashtra) at 41.9°C — would be considered a public health emergency anywhere in Europe,” noted the report.
Uttar Pradesh topped the list with 21 cities. It was followed by Maharashtra (10), Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan (six each), Haryana (four) and Delhi, Telangana and Chhatisgarh (one each).
Prahlad Valmiki, a resident of Bhadedu village, and whose wife is a local Pradhan (an elected official), said the time had come to look at this problem seriously. Otherwise, Banda will not remain liveable,” he warned while speaking to journalists.
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