On average, about eight people are dying every day due to incidents related to bad weather in the country. Most of the deaths have occurred due to heavy rain, lightning, heatwave, thunderstorm, cold wave, and dust storms. This has come to the fore from the data of deaths between 2010 and 2021 due to odd weather events compiled by the India Meteorological Department.
It said, “32,043 people died during the last eleven-and-a-half years due to anomalous weather events.” Thus, an average of about eight people is dying every day. The latest report on climate change published by the Ministry of Earth Sciences states that since the middle of the twentieth century, India has seen an increase in average temperature, a decrease in monsoon rainfall, extreme temperature and rainfall events, drought, and sea-level rise, developed.
It said, that there has been an increase in the intensity of severe cyclones, and there has been strong scientific evidence to suggest that human activities are behind these changes in the regional climate. According to the report, ‘human-induced climate change is likely to continue at the same pace in the 21st century.’
At the same time, according to the data compiled by the Meteorological Department, 13,303 people died between 2010 and 2021 due to conditions arising due to heavy rainfall, while 6,495 people died due to heatwave and 2,489 due to icy waves. 3,832 people died during this period because of thunderstorms, 895 due to cyclonic storms, 446 due to dust storms, and 345 due to snow.
On the other hand, the Assessment Report on Climate Change states that India’s average temperature has increased by about 0.7 degrees Celsius during the years 1901 to 2018. During the most recent 30-year period (1986 to 2015), the hottest day and coldest night temperatures of the year have increased by 0.63 °C and 0.4 °C, respectively.
India’s average temperature rises by one degree Celsius
The report said that due to the combined increase in surface temperature and humidity, heatwave conditions are likely to increase across India, especially in the Gangetic and Indus Valley regions. The report also said that between 1951 and 2015, the sea surface temperature of the tropical Indian Ocean has increased by an average of one degree Celsius. India has seen an increase in the incidence of drought during the last six to seven decades due to an overall decrease in seasonal summer years.
