Indian Climate Emergency : How India Fall in A Major Climate Emergency By The HNT
Indian Climate Emergency: How India Fall in A Major Climate Emergency By The HNT, in the running session 2024, all over India Realise wat is the heatwave and how Indian will finished soon by the Climate Emergency. Let's go to the sortout main problem behind the Indian Climate Emergency...
Indian Climate Emergency
India is witnessing a climate emergency. On Radhika Govindrajan's post where she says that Delhi is so hot that bats are falling from trees. Now imagine what is happening to humans. One is Krishna, who is showing a photo of her 60-year-old husband.
On 31st May, in Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh her husband went to the DM's office for work after cycling 15 km. When he came back home after 9 hours of shift, he ate food and went to sleep. But he never woke up.
On the same night, 17 government employees died in Mirzapur and nearby Sonbhadra. What was the reason? Heat! 17 government employees died due to heat. If this had happened elsewhere in the world it would have been a big issue.
But in our country, you wouldn't have even noticed this. Instead, the government ministers are promoting pseudoscience. When Jyotiraditya Scindia was asked about heatwave, he said keep onions in your pocket, nothing will happen. "It's scorching hot...the temperatures are high."
"Do you think the voters will turn up?" "You must always remember, Mausumi, that you don't have to worry about heat as long as you have this." If this is the case, then start a government program where onions are distributed. Not just in India, we should tell the world that India has a solution for climate change.
Thankfully, since 2014, PM Modi's views have changed on climate change But we still have a lot of work to do. Our country has witnessed a deadly heatwave this year. The situation in Delhi NCR areas is so bad that people's ACs and cars are on fire.
Even the water coming out of the taps is on fire. Government hospitals can't fight this emergency. So they are using inflatable tubs and ice-making machines to treat patients. Delhi's Ram Manohar Hospital's Dr. Venkat said: We just put semi-conscious patients in this tub.
If the patient is unconscious, we put them on a bed where we put ice cubes. India is witnessing a climate emergency. Don't think that only Delhi is in an emergency and if it rains after a few days, the situation will get better.
Along with Delhi, the entire country is in an emergency. If Delhi is witnessing a heatwave, then coastal areas are being flooded, mountains are facing landslides and in western India, normal land is becoming barren.
The worst impact of this climate change will be seen on the poor. It's worth asking why our government hasn't responded to climate change. On the last day of the elections, 33 electoral officials died due to a heatstroke in Uttar Pradesh. And the government didn't do anything.
Prime Minister Modi thanked many electoral officials in his victory speech but didn't mention this tragedy. In Gujarat, the Director of the Institute of Public Health, Dr. Dilip said: It's shocking that government officials died during election duty.
If we can't save our staff, then what about our regular citizens? Most of you won't accept that we're witnessing a climate emergency because there are no riots or Hindu-Muslim speeches. But I want to give you three examples to prove that we are facing an emergency and what steps you need to take.
You must have read the news that in many parts of North India, the temperature reached 50 degrees Celsius. In Rajasthan, many BSF soldiers were boiling papads and eggs in Bikaner in the heat. In 2021, a study showed that due to climate change, in the months of April and May, the probability of heatwaves in North India has increased by 100 times.
As heatwaves and other extreme weather conditions are becoming more frequent, it's becoming more important to protect our health. They can lead to serious conditions like Dehydration, heat exhaustion, and heatstroke.
Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, and Rajasthan saw maximum temperatures as much as 44-46 degrees.
Cities like Bengaluru, which were believed to have good weather, have also crossed the temperature record. According to IMD data, the average temperature in Bengaluru was between 33-35 degrees in May whereas this year, the temperature has reached 42 degrees.
In Assam, where people didn't buy ACs, the condition has worsened so much that Assam's tea production has fallen due to this high temperature. Now, there's a reason behind this high temperature -- El Nino. El Nino is basically a climate pattern that prevents rain during monsoon in India.
This El Nino is the reason why pre-monsoon showers have been delayed so much in India. According to the World Meteorological Organization, El Nino's impact in 2023-2024 is on the record one of the five strongest.
You can see that from this map. This map shows that compared to the long-term average, the maximum temperature has been high this summer. And you can see that North India's area is so red. In some areas, this year, the maximum temperature has been 5-6.5 degrees higher than the average.
But there's a man-made reason behind this heat. One reason is global warming. Many human activities, like burning forests, or cutting trees, have increased the quantity of greenhouse gases which has led to higher temperatures in India.
Then we have to blame urban planning. Take a look at this photo. On the left is the Sainik Farm in Delhi and on the right is Sangam Vihar. Guess which one is richer Obviously, Sainik Farm. But guess which is the most heated in these two areas?
Sainik Farm or Sangam Vihar? Sangam Vihar? Because there are no trees there. This is due to an urban island effect where we have turned cities into concrete jungles due to which the heat gets trapped in a city.
And clearly, who will be affected the most by this heat? Those people who live in areas like Sangam Vihar and who don't have enough money to buy a house in Sainik Farm. Even in Mumbai's Marine Drive, a new road has been built by cutting down trees.
So people can walk on Marine Drive but can't escape the heat. Unless they have an onion in their pocket. "You don't have to worry about heat as long as you have this." "Keep the onion in your pocket, nothing will happen."
"Isn't it right?" Now, where people are dying of heat in Delhi around 2000 km away in our country people are praying for the rain to stop. In some areas of Assam, the rain has become so heavy that there are floods in many places.
How India Fall in A Major Climate Emergency
On 18th June, due to heavy rains, a landslide was triggered where 6 people were killed. Siju Das, a state disaster management official said that due to the landslide, a woman and her 3 daughters were buried alive.
Due to the dangerous levels of the Kopli River around 1.5 lakh people were affected. And this is the second flood in Assam in a month. The first flood came at the end of May when cyclone Remal hit India.
"The cyclone Remal is causing a lot of destruction in the North East." "Due to the storm, around 33 people died in the North East." "28 people died in Mizoram."
A 2020 study by the Council of Energy, Environment and Water showed that since 2005, the number of districts affected by cyclones has tripled every year. And the frequency of cyclones has also doubled. In the past, cyclones used to come after the monsoon. But now, cyclones have started coming before the monsoon.
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The study showed that the main reason behind this was climate change. Remember, cyclones aren't just a problem in Assam or Odisha. In May 2021, when the heat was at its peak, it was seen in Mumbai as well.
"The high pressure in the Arabian sea has caused Cyclone Tauktae, which will strike Mumbai's coastline around 5pm today in the evening." Typically, cyclones used to form in the Bay of Bengal and not in the Arabian Sea.
But a 2021 study showed that in the Arabian Sea, between 2001 and 2019, the frequency of cyclones has increased by 52% This is why in 2021, Cyclone Tauktae hit Mumbai and destroyed many fishermen's homes.
In 12 months, this was the second cyclone to hit Mumbai. So please don't think that your city or your area is safe from climate change.
Now many of you will ask if this is such a pressing issue, then why hasn't climate change become a political issue yet? Why aren't voters voting on its basis? Why aren't politicians talking about it?
And research has also been done on this. And the main reason is blind faith. "Read it out loud." "I'm PM's supporter." "I'll earn him 10,000 votes." "I have given my heart to him." "I'm very dangerous." "Be careful."
The research on this is very interesting. The researchers want to find the answer to just one question. The air pollution situation in Delhi is very bad. On average, due to air pollution in India, an average person's life is reduced by 5 years.
But this number is 12 in Delhi. So you are living 12 years less if you live in Delhi. But despite this, neither state elections, nor general elections, nor municipal elections talk about air pollution.
It's just a matter of a month or two when Diwali comes, and people forget about it. The researchers tested many theories. And one theory that turned out to be true was blind faith.
People have become so blind to their politicians and political leaders that they don't even want to ask them questions about air pollution. Let me tell you exactly what is written in the paper.
It's written in English. If I say it in Hindi, they won't blame their own party for air pollution. They will blame the other party. So congratulations to you on becoming a blind supporter. Air pollution is not an electoral issue in your city.
In a city where an average resident has lost 12 years of his life, where the Chief Minister and Prime Minister live in the same city. But because of blind faith, it's not an electoral issue. So congratulations.
But thankfully, these researchers also talked about a solution that applies to air pollution and climate change. They said that if you tell a resident of Delhi that climate change has caused floods in Bengaluru, they wouldn't care.
But you have to personalize things in your communication so that people know that climate change is having an impact on their lives. So now I will try to do the same to explain to you what is the personal impact of climate change.
This is Rukmini Kamble, a farmer who has been working in Kolhapur, Maharashtra for many years. When she was working in a sugarcane field, while working in the heat, she fell unconscious.
She realized that something was wrong. As if everything had become foggy and because of the scorching sun, she became unconscious. She had worked in the fields all my life, but she never such a thing.
This is not just Rukmini's situation. If you ask your friends and family around you, many people are going through this situation. The way the human body sweats keeps our body cool. But there is a limit.
When humidity and temperature cross a limit, the human body can't regulate the temperature. If this limit is crossed, a person who is sitting in the shade, can have multiple organ failures in a few hours.
Between 1st March and 18th June, the health ministry reported 40,000 heat stroke cases and 110 confirmed deaths. But these are just reported numbers. The actual deaths are far more than reported.
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But the government doesn't want to believe that people are dying from heat stroke. There are many reasons for this. Between 30th May and 1st June, many government teachers in the Jamui district of Bihar died from heat stroke.
One of them was Vasi Akhtar, who died from heat stroke as soon as he reached his school to work. If the government believes that people like Vasi died from heat stroke, they will have to pay around Rs.
4 lakh to their families. The government doesn't want to do this. Local activist Pushpraj Shastri says that since the government doesn't want to pay, the doctors usually say that they died from a heart attack.
Another reason is that many medical professionals don't have the training to gain information about heat stroke and how important it is in our country. This is why we don't know the actual impact of heat stroke because the government isn't recording it.
This government is the first in the past 150 years which hasn't conducted a census. Therefore, it becomes easy to hide deaths caused by heatstrokes. But unfortunately, unless we look at the data properly, we won't be able to solve the problem.
A 2022 study by Lancet showed that between 2004 and 2021, the number of heat-related deaths in India has increased by 55%. But unfortunately, the projections for the future are even worse.
90% of our country's population will be affected by heat waves. And where heat waves on average are only 12 days long, after a few years, they will be 18 days long. And the biggest impact will be on people who live in areas like Sangam Vihar.
People who get their daily wages only when they work in the sun. Like construction workers, security guards, traffic policemen, or cart drivers. A few days ago, the head constable of Kanpur died from a heat stroke.
Because of this heat, villagers in Nashik are digging a well for water. We saw the same in the capital of the country, Delhi. "The tankers come every day." "But due to the shortage, we don't get water."
"It has become a hassle." How can people work in this heat? Unsurprisingly, many e-commerce companies, like Flipkart or Swiggy, are delivering their products late because delivery workers don't want to work in the heat.
Forget about humans, even the ACs aren't working well. The power demand has increased so much that the country doesn't have enough electricity and it's shedding loads. We saw the same at Delhi airport.
Here, the boarding and check-in facilities were shut down because of this. In many areas of the country, fans have been installed in front of transformers so that machines don't break down.
Privileged people like me will install another AC to fight the heat. But many people don't have this option. Remember that according to the report by the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, if you want to be in the top 10% of India, your monthly income should be Rs. 25,000.
If you get into the top 10% club just by earning Rs. 25,000 a month, think about those people who don't have that much money. A Yale University study showed that 33% of people have either changed their homes or are planning to leave their homes due to weather-related disasters.
By 2050, 5 crore people will be displaced due to climate change. You and I will install ACs. What about others? There's been another popular research on climate change that negativity doesn't solve anything.
If you just keep saying that the world is going to end, people will get depressed and won't take any action. So it's important to adopt a solution-oriented approach. So what are the solutions? First, acknowledge that there's a problem.
As long as our politicians keep saying not to be afraid of heat stroke, and ask you to keep onions in your pocket, it'll do nothing. "You don't have to worry about the heat as long as you have this."
We need to keep others and our politicians accountable. If there are people who don't worry about climate change, you can raise awareness by personalizing the cost for them. The media also plays an important role in this.
And I'm trying to do the same in my own way. Unfortunately, the Indian media's coverage of climate change is very poor. "We're in Dwarka, Gujarat." "The winds are blowing ferociously."
"It's difficult to stand in the winds." "The storm is coming." "It's coming at the speed of 150 km per hour." "It's difficult to even stand up." "It's difficult to speak." Indian media talks about climate change as if it's a far-fetched problem.
It won't have any personal impact. Whereas we need media coverage that's completely opposite. We need personalized, solution-oriented coverage. For this, the media needs to decentralize their coverage.
I told you in my video on Indian media that Indian media is heavily concentrated on Delhi's issues. P. Sainath, the founder and editor of Pari, said that mass media only talks about the coverage of the rich and the political class.
Because of this, 75% of the population doesn't matter to Indian media. Whereas if Indian media is covering the audience of Maharashtra, they should talk about the issues of Maharashtra. This way, we can personalize climate change.
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You should also play a role in this. You should communicate with your family and friends about how difficult it'll get to sleep because of the heat and climate change. How your electricity bill can increase.
How you might need a higher-tonnage AC. It will be difficult to work outside. Your productivity will decrease, which will reduce your income. We already have problems in our lives. If you add another problem, people won't want to deal with it. They'll ignore it.
The way you communicate with it matters a lot. If we talk about the responsibility of the government, it's important for our political leaders to take responsibility and show accountability that climate change is a real threat to our country.
Until we accept it, there won't be a solution. After this, the central government should form a high-powered committee on climate change. It should have many ministers. Climate change is not only affecting transport, housing, and rural departments. It will affect our entire country.
A high-powered committee should be formed whose chair is Narendra Modi. Remember, climate change can't be tackled by the central government alone. For this, we need coordination from central to state level and from state level to local level.
For this reason, Niranjan Sahoo who is a senior fellow at Observer Research Foundation says that we need an intergovernmental institution for climate change in which central, state and local level government bodies can coordinate.
Apart from this, central government can't execute it alone. They need support from the state, especially the local level. I have said many times in my videos that we need to make our local governance stronger.
One reason why our cities are so dirty and unplanned is that they don't have that much power. I have said in many videos that where 50% of China's budget is spent on local level, in India, this number is only 3%.
If we want to tackle climate change and if we want our cities and villages to be able to deal with it, then we need to give them more power. Financial power and political power. But to start this work, our government needs to do two things.
First, they need to accept that heat stroke is a reality. They need to accept the data and not hide from it. Second, they shouldn't go against science but try to tackle climate change with its support.
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