Freak weather to rise in India over two decades

Year 2000 was ‘tipping point’ for warming, cataclysmic fallout likely by 2040

NEWDELHI: Pointing towards a rise in catastrophic weather events in India — including last year’s Kerala floods and the freak dust storms in northern India — the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said that the year 2000 was a “tipping point” for the impact of climate change-led warming in the country, and scientists predict a cataclysmic fallout by 2040 if emissions are not contained.

In a report released last week, IMD documented a gradual, significant rise in the annual mean temperature from 2000 onwards. Since meteorological record keeping began in India in 1901, the report said that there has been a perceptible spike in the past 19 years. IMD’s “Statement on Climate of India during 2018” linked this trend to climate change because India’s warming trends are very similar to the pattern of global warming.

Global surface temperature has increased by about 1.1 degrees Celsius over the pre-industrial era (1850-1900), and the rise in global temperature has been the highest since 2000 with the 20 warmest recorded years all occurring in the past 22 years, according to World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) “The State of the Global Climate in 2018”.

In India, 11 out of 15 warmest years occurred during the past 15 years (2004-2018). The past decade (2009-2018) was also the warmest decade on record in India.

Scientists from across government and independent agencies say India is projected to experience a temperature rise of 1.5 degrees by 2040 if measures are not taken to curb greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This could impact agriculture, coastal communities, and cost several animal species their natural habitat.

These findings are in sync with last year’s critical Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) “Global Warming of 1.5 degrees” report, whose co-author Joyashree Roy said: “India may face serious consequences including severe heat stress in big cities, high air pollution levels, salt-water intrusion in coastal areas triggered by rise in sea levels, and increased vulnerability to disasters in high mountain ecosystems.”

India and other countries will have to make “unprecedented transitions in all sectors” to avoid this, the report said.

Scientists say that even with the current rate of warming in India, a lot of changes have taken place in forests and other fragile ecosystems which haven’t been documented yet.

Singh’s remarks come close on the heels of the SP and the BSP announcing an alliance in Uttar Pradesh for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.BSP leader Satish Chandra Mishra said Singh was “mentally ill”. “The language used by BJP leader Sadhana Singh against our party president Mayawati shows the level of the BJP,” Mishra tweeted.

“This shows that BJP is disappointed and frustrated with the SP-BSP alliance. They have no strength to win even a single seat in Uttar Pradesh. The level of language shows their mental illness. Such people should be admitted to the mental hospital of Agra or Bareilly. The people of this country this time will show BJP its real place. They have lost their mental balance in fear of losing the election in Uttar Pradesh,” said Mishra’s tweet.

SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said Singh’s remarks were an insult to all women. “BJP’s Mughalsarai MLA’s objectionable remarks for Mayawati are grossly condemnable. This only shows the BJP’s political and moral bankruptcy and frustration of BJP. This is an insult to all the women of the country,” Akhilesh tweeted.

Union minister and Republican Party of India president Ramdas Athawale told a presser in Lucknow on Sunday that such personal comments should not be made.

Condemning Sadhna Singh for making the derogatory remark, Athawale said instead of personal attacks, leaders should make political attacks.

“The remark by the BJP MLA against Mayawati will benefit BSP in elections,” he said.

Taking suo motu cognisance of the MLA’s remarks, an NCW official said the commission will send a notice on Monday to Singh regarding the statement and seek an explanation from her.

Meanwhile, chief zonal in-charge of BSP, Varanasi-Azamgarh Ramchanadra Gautam handed over a petition to the station house officer, Baburi police station in Chandauli, for registration of an FIR under SC-ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 and IPC against Sadhana Singh for her derogatory remarks. On Sunday evening Sadhana Singh expressed regrets for her comments and said that she did not intend to insult anyone. In a press statement, Singh said the speech given by me was not intended to insult anyone, but to remind how the BJP had helped Mayawati in the guest house case on June 2, 1995. “I didn’t want to insult her. I would like to apologise if my words have hurt anyone,” she said.