When the month of November started, a figure came out that this year’s October was the hottest October in the last 125 years. According to the Indian Meteorological Department, after 1901, October of this year i.e. 2024 was the hottest October in terms of average and minimum temperatures. The capital Delhi experienced the hottest October this year since 1951. There was not a single drop of rain in Delhi throughout October. There is no doubt that the reason for October being so hot is the increase in global temperatures. At the same time, October this year was the hottest in Japan since 1898. But India’s internal conditions are also responsible for this increase in temperature. It is also being estimated that November may also break the heat record. Record heat is expected in October and November in India, Pakistan and countries of West Asia as well as in Japan.
In fact, rising temperatures are dominating the weather cycle. Global temperature is increasing faster than anticipated and as temperature increases, moisture increases and the amount of greenhouse gases increases in the same proportion. The combined effect of these is that the heat index, i.e. the felt heat, which is called ‘wet bulb temperature’, also increases. In simple language, the temperature starts to be felt more than what it looks like.
That’s why every time people say that it has never felt so hot before, they are talking about the heat felt in the impact. Now the heat felt even at 45 degree temperature is 50 degree. If greenhouse gas emissions are not reduced, global warming is not stopped, and weather cycles are not corrected, temperatures will continue to rise.
It is not that the worsening of the weather cycle will only increase the heat. Cold will also increase and there will be more rain. And that too will not be balanced. We have just seen how the departing monsoon rains caused massive devastation in many parts of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The Meteorological Department officially announced the withdrawal of monsoon on October 15, after which heavy rains occurred in many districts of central and southern parts of Karnataka including the capital Bengaluru, due to which life got disrupted. At the same time, there was heavy rain in many parts of Tamil Nadu including the capital Chennai. Due to this, many trains had to be canceled and air services were also affected. Currently, the impact of cyclonic storm Dana was visible in seven states including Odisha. The frequency of such storms also increases
Is going.
According to the Meteorological Department, monsoon has been normal this year but drought conditions have arisen in large parts of Eastern India including Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha. Many states received less than normal rainfall. Such uneven rainfall, increase in heat wave days and increase in severe winter days are permanent phenomena. Its impact is not only visible on the lives of common people, it will also badly affect the country’s economy.
According to a report by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), a major impact of climate change will be visible on the gross domestic product (GDP) in India and the entire Asia Pacific. According to ADB’s ‘Asia Pacific Climate Report 2024’, in the next 50 years, climate change may cause a loss of about 17 percent to the GDP of Asia Pacific and about 25 percent to the GDP of India. According to this report, due to increase in global temperature and deterioration of weather cycles, sea levels will rise and labor productivity will decrease, due to which the economy will have a major impact. Countries with low income and weak economy will be its bigger victims. Not only this, the lives of about 30 crore people will be in danger due to coastal floods.
The question is that if such a big crisis is looming, then who is worried about it? Is anyone in India thinking about this? The phrase ‘net zero’ is being used again and again, but leave alone reducing carbon emissions to zero, are any concrete measures being taken to reduce them? Excessive exploitation of natural resources continues throughout the country. Forests are being cut. Recently, pictures and videos of cutting of Hasdev forest in Chhattisgarh went viral but no one was affected. Adani Group has coal mines there. Coal will be extracted by cutting forests, which means there is a double threat to the environment. The plight of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh is not hidden from anyone. Cities are being destroyed one after another because the mountains are cracking due to continuous mining and construction work.
Mountains are breaking due to big hydroelectric projects and other factories. Cracks are appearing in people’s houses, due to which people are forced to leave their homes. Roads and tunnels are being built by cutting mountains. But in the same proportion, tunnels are sinking and roads are breaking. In the name of increasing tourism, big resorts are being built and the number of natural disasters occurring every year is also increasing in the same proportion. Forests are being cut, mountains are being destroyed and rivers are being polluted. There would hardly be any holy river in the country whose water is suitable for bathing or bathing. The underground water level i.e. the groundwater table is continuously going down, due to which everything from drinking water to irrigation is becoming difficult.
Such is the situation in many countries of the world, but what is more worrying for India is that this problem is not being taken seriously at any level. The government is concerned about perceived growth, GDP figures and becoming the third largest economy. No party is serious about this. The business houses of the country have never been concerned about these things. For them, charitable work means converting black money into white and evading taxes by creating a foundation in the name of their ancestors. Regarding environment, it appears to be a think tank called Center for Science and Environment (CSE) or a personal effort of a few environmentalists.
There is no discussion on any policy platform as to what form nature will take in the future. The problem is increasing year after year and governments are doing fire fighting on immediate issues. No one has any plans for the long term. Everything depends on God and amidst these circumstances, Donald Trump has won the elections in America. Now even at the global level, efforts to deal with the ill effects of climate change will slow down, which will further increase India’s challenges.