Gurinder Kaur

Since the beginning of 2024, some parts of India have been reeling under the cycle of unpredictable weather and natural disasters due to climate change.

The World Air Quality Report 2023, prepared by the Swiss technology company IQAir, was released on March 19, 2024. According to this report, India ranks as the third most polluted country in the world, following Bangladesh and Pakistan. Additionally, New Delhi, the capital of India, is identified as the most polluted capital globally.

The Supreme Court has allowed the lifting of the ban on construction on the 17 green belts of Shimla and the core area of the city imposed by the National Green Tribunal in connection with the Himachal Pradesh government's Shimla Development Plan 2041.

Himachal Pradesh has once again been hit by natural calamities and has yet to fully recover from the destruction brought on by the severe rains in July. The death toll from incidents related to rain and cloudbursts continues to rise in the state. Heavy rains have caused widespread destruction due to landslides on Shimla's Summer Hill, Krishna Nagar, and Phagli.

These days, Punjab is in the grip of floods. In more than 1,400 villages in 19 districts of Punjab, water from Sutlej, Beas, Ravi, and Ghaggar is causing heavy damage to crops, houses, people, and other belongings. The state government has evacuated more than 25,000 people to safer places to avoid the flood.

On January 7, 2023 Joshimath city in Uttarakhand was declared a land subsidence zone. About 60 families have been moved to temporary relief centers from their houses that have become unlivable. Another 90 families are yet to be shifted to safer places. Joshimath city has a total of 4500 buildings out of which 610 have suffered major cracks.

The Conference of Parties-27 (COP-27) ended on November 20 in the Egyptian city of Sharm el-Sheikh. This conference was supposed to last until November 18, but it ended on November 20 as no result was reached by November 18. In this conference, the item named 'Loss and Damages Fund' has been passed, which is being considered as a major achievement.

On October 25 2022, UNICEF released a report titled "The Coldest Year of the Rest of Their Lives: Protecting Children from Escalating Impacts of Heatwaves".

On June 8, Yale University's Center for Environmental Law and Policy and Columbia University's Center for International Earth Science Information Network released a report of the Environmental Performance Index 2022. India ranked lowest among the 180 countries considered, lagging behind Myanmar at 179, Vietnam (178), Bangladesh (177) and Pakistan (176).

The second phase of data collected by the National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS-5) for 2019-21 was released on November 24, 2021.