HEATWAVES IN INDIA BEYOND HUMAN SURVIVABILITY?

India saw an extremely unusual trend in January, which witnessed precipitation amounts 129% above average. India experienced a severe heatwave in April 2022, which caused the capital’s temperature to soar to nearly 46 degrees Celsius. The month of march saw the driest and highest temperature in last 121 years!After the World Banku2019s report warning the country of experiencing heatwaves beyond human survivability limit all the prior experience are meaningless. According to a World Bank research titled Climate Investment Opportunities in India’s Cooling Sector, India may experience heatwaves that exceed the threshold for human survival.According to the human survivability limit, a person can last three minutes without air, three days without water, and three weeks without food. Although there are several exceptions to this, they do not alter the current data for the average person.u201cThe G20 Climate Risk Atlas forewarned in 2021 that the heatwaves across the country were likely to last 25 times longer by 2036-65 if the carbon emissions remain high, as in the IPCCu2019s worst case scenariou201d the report further stated.
Image source-https://www.indiatoday.inThe report further explained the effect of this severe effect on the Indian economic productivity u201cUp to 75% of Indiau2019s workforce, or 380 million people, depend on heat-exposed labor, at time working in 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.u201dAccording to the report’s additional discussion of the impact of heatwaves on food and public health, with only 4% of fresh produce in India covered by cold chain facilities, annual anticipated food losses can count up to 13 billion USD.This topic needs to be given serious consideration because it could lead to complications that no one could have foreseen. Unwavering action must be taken to minimize this effect as much and as long as possible. Real development is only sustainable when the abiotic and biotic components involved in it are taken into consideration.