Even though Monsoon season has arrived in India, it has not given any relief to the citizens suffering from scorching heat. Especially, the northern India states are facing Increasing temperatures and extreme heat waves. This is a result of climate change. It is speculated by the IMD the temperature will get worse in the upcoming days.
The summer of 2022 has been marked as the second hottest season after 2010, earlier it was the year 2016 when Indian states faced this kind of intense heat waves. The rising temperature is not just due to the climate change but there are multiple factors such as the heat island effect brought on by the surface heat absorption and heat produced by vehicles, A.Cs, and industries. People from many major cities like Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata feel like sitting inside an oven. Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Hyderabad are significantly hotter than their neighboring territory.
The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has stated that, while the rising temperature in major cities is getting attention from concerned departments, the rise in overall anomalous average temperature mark has been largely ignored.
“This is a very disturbing trend as policy preparedness to mitigate rising heat due to climate change is nearly absent in India. And without the heat action plans, rising air temperature, radiating heat, from land surfaces, heat-trapping built structures, waste heat from industrial processes and A.Cs. erosion of dousing forest, urban green, and water bodies will worsen the public health risk, and this needs urgent time-bound mitigation.” said by Anumita Roychowdhary, the executive director of CSE.
The National Crime Record Bureau (NRCB) has presented the data about the deaths caused due to climatic stress, its shows that between the years 2015 and 2020, 2,137 people had lost their lives due to intense heat stroke and sunburn, specifically in the northwest states. But, the southern peninsula region had reported 2,444 death counts due to increasing heat. Andhra Pradesh had alone reported over half of the casualties.