Climate Change With Respect To India

Climate change, which is directly attributable to global warming, is gravely impacting all regions of the World, with India obviously being no exception to that. The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) has come out with a report highlighting the dire consequence to be faced by the planet if global warming is not controlled. This report states that India is going to be among the countries where these effects are going to be most severe.

Increases in temperatures, delayed monsoon, erratic rains, to name a few, are some of the pertinent negative effects seen in India. Apart from that, the following points will clearly focus on the unpleasant picture of the sub-continent resulting from climate change:

• The advent of the winter season is getting abnormally delayed in almost all parts of the country. Also, the winters are no longer as chilly as what they used to be until about the recent past.
• It’s been projected that there shall be an alarming increase in sea level and this would seriously endanger population residing in coastal zones.
• The agricultural sector is badly hit by delayed monsoons and erratic rainfall. Owing to this unpredictability, farmers are unable to plan their activities related to cultivation.
• During the course of the preceding three decades, there has been a drastic increase in the frequency of droughts. It’s rather perturbing to note that if things remain unchanged, the country has to face many more droughts.
• As it is, the groundwater of the subcontinent has been overused and now; climate change has just aggravated things further.
• There is a steady depletion of glaciers and snow cover of Himalayas and this is anticipated to affect the dependability of rivers such as the Brahmaputra and Indus. To be clearer, it’ll be difficult to predict the point of time with regard to the increase/decrease of flows to these rivers. All this is going to acutely impact the agricultural operations of north India.
• The climate change of the country, or to be more precise the abnormally hot climate, could lead to a frightening rise in the spread of diseases like diarrhea and malaria. In this context, we need to note that the colder climate used to keep these diseases very much under check.

It is the need of the hour that the government of India initiates measures to combat the aforementioned menace. Some of these suggested steps are:

• In India, people are increasingly opting for personal vehicles such as scooters and motorbikes. In this connection, the government is entailed to bring out initiatives for large-scale manufacture of vehicles driven by electric power. Also, it is equally important that the public transportation system must be improved in a manner so as to discourage individuals from using their own vehicles.
• The government must make sure that its targets specific to renewable energy storage are met.
• Sophisticated techniques of irrigation and water harvesting have to be introduced, to battle the issue of water shortage. Also, the appropriate usage of groundwater must be encouraged, through various incentives.
• The required assistance should be provided to farmers, to cultivate crops that are unaffected by droughts. Education on the right management of soil has to be imparted to them, as well.

It was seen that during the past couple of years, well over 2000 people perished in natural disasters like cyclones and floods in India. There is no doubt in maintaining that climate change is chiefly responsible for this disturbing state of affairs. And, our irresponsible approach towards nature is the primary reason for the change in the climate. It’s high time that we comprehend the seriousness of the matter and initiate remedial action before things got totally out of hand.