India is a physically and geographically blessed nation. The country is surrounded by water from all three sides to the south, snow-clad mountains to its north desert to its east, and green mountains to its west. Blessed with an excellent geographical location, India has had an abundance of natural wealth right from the time of its advent. One of the main reasons behind the British’s rule was the wealth this nation had. Though the regular time frame of monsoons in India is from June till September, this year, the rainfall in India continued till October ‘21. It all started in mid-July when a low-pressure region formed over the Bay of Bengal. This low-pressure system worked as an anchor for rain-bearing westerly winds from the Arabian Sea, which began pouring towards the trough during the monsoon months of June to September. These winds carried a lot of moisture from the overheated Arabian Sea, where sea surface temperatures were 1-2 degrees Celsius above usual at the time. As these winds sped towards the low-pressure area, they collided with the Western Ghats’ high range. They also dumped all of their water. Because of these unpredictable rains in the Western Ghats region, people in the State of Maharashtra face many floods, landslides, etc. The current high-intensity rainfall in Kerala happened due to a low-pressure system formed in the Arabian Sea’s east-central region. As the system approached the Kerala coast, heavy weather developed. In the north-eastern part of India, Other climatic factors such as the increased snowfall in the Eurasian region also impact monsoon rainfall in North East India. Excessive snowfall in Eurasia causes cooling of the region’s atmosphere, which triggers events eventually leading to a weak summer monsoon season there.
In the past, the natural climatic patterns in India were in control and sync with the surrounding. As time passed and development started taking place, along with the whole world, even India became prey for the climatic changes. Along with development, the pollution in the nature increased such as air, water, noise, etc. Air pollution in nature has led to issues like ozone layer depletion, during which climatic changes started taking place.
Due to climate change, India has been facing unpre- dictable rainfall. Climate models predict that if greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions remain high, global warming will increase monsoon rainfall by 14% by the end of the century. Monsoon rainfall could increase by 10% in the medium emissions scenario.
The changing nature of climate has brought a lot of challenges for India to suffer. Amid Covid-19, India suffers a lot due to the unpredicted rainfall, which has now become lethal. If now, as a nation, we do not start taking progressive steps towards controlling the climate change issue, it will lead to a more deadly scenario. Hence, the government of India should work towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) for the better future of our nation.
10 Jan 2022
Mayura Ghate
