So far, it has been seen that the heatwave is increasing every year in the country. The summer season is starting early and lasts till late.
A report by the World Bank has an ominous warning for India: the country is witnessing an increase in severe heatwaves, which are responsible for thousand of deaths over the last few decades, and soon the country could become one of the first places in the world to experience heatwaves that break the human survivability limit.
According to the report, summers in India will be longer by up to 25 per cent by 2036, which means the season will last from beginning of March till the end of November.
So far, it has been seen that the heatwave is increasing every year in the country. The summer season is starting early and lasts till late. Winters are also not as cold as before and the duration of winter season is also getting shorter. The heatwaves which usually run in May-June in North India, now run in April as well.
“Up to 75 percent of India’s workforce, or 380 million people, depend on heat-exposed labor, at times working in potentially life-threatening temperatures. …By 2030, India may account for 34 million of the projected 80 million global job losses from heat stress associated productivity decline”, the report said.
The World Bank report further states that only 4 per cent of fresh produce in India is covered by cold chain facilities which results in annual losses of fruits, vegetables, dairy products and other perishable food items worth Rs 1 lakh crore. Every year, about 25 per cent of medicines get wasted due to heatwave during transportation, which amounts to Rs 2,500 crore.
The report not only discusses the problem but also the possibility of investment. According to the report, in the coming days, there will be three very important sectors in terms of cooling. The first is Space Cooling, in which homes, offices, hospitals, shops, malls, schools come... and the maximum investment will have to be made here. By 2050, 45 percent of electricity demand will be seen in this sector.
The second is Cold Chain and Refrigeration Cooling, to save medicines and food items from getting wasted, a lot of investment will have to be made on this.
Third is Passenger and Transport Cooling which includes public transport like metro trains, local trains and buses.
The report also praises the central government’s Ujjwala scheme, crediting it for curbing pollution levels. Generally, wood, coal or kerosene was used for cooking in villages or even in very small towns and this caused a lot of pollution.
According to the Lancet Planetry Health report of 2021, 7 lakh 40 thousand people die every year in India due to excessive heat or cold. India is the third largest carbon polluter country in the world, which means it emits the most carbon. The result of this is that the incidents of heatwaves are continuously increasing in the country.
March this year was the hottest season in the country. After this, many heat records were broken in April and again in May. And the incidents of HeatWaves have increased seven times. HeatWaves occurred only 4 times last year. While HeatWaves occurred 27 times this year. Maximum heatwaves were seen in Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Jharkhand.
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