Gurinder Kaur

Gurinder Kaur
How can India break the disaster cycle?
Considering India's diverse geography, what actions can be taken to address specific natural disasters like floods, droughts, or landslides
Posted on 12 Jul, 2024 01:33 PM

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.

Floods induced by climate change (Image: CC0 1.0)
Clearing the air
A grim reality: India's air quality dilemma as revealed by the World Air Quality Report 2023
Posted on 10 Apr, 2024 05:30 PM

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.

Beyond breathable (Image: Mark Danielson, CC BY-NC 2.0 DEED)
Shimla's future: Crafting a development plan
Navigating sustainable development in the wake of legal battles and environmental challenges
Posted on 05 Feb, 2024 11:02 AM

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.

The heavy rains and landslides in 2023 have highlighted the city's inability to bear the burden of additional population (Image: Vincent Desjardins; CC BY 2.0 DEED)
How can Himachal Pradesh be protected from natural disasters?
Unraveling Himachal Pradesh's calamity conundrum: Balancing development and environmental conservation
Posted on 29 Aug, 2023 10:54 PM

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.

Landslide menace grips Himachal, triggered by unplanned development, climate shifts, and environmental degradation (Image: Sridhar Rao, Wikimedia Commons)
How to save Punjab from floods?
The devastation caused by the torrential rains that pounded Punjab serves as yet another painful reminder of the cost associated with our hasty urban expansion and unplanned development.
Posted on 29 Jul, 2023 12:18 PM

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.

Green regulations and environmental warnings are often disregarded by our planners. (Image: Rawpixel, CC0)
How to save Joshimath?
The sinking town points to the climate change risks faced in vulnerable areas such as the Himalayas
Posted on 17 Jan, 2023 01:12 PM

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.

Warnings were being given for some decades that Joshimath would sink one day (Image: Vaibhav, Wikimedia Commons)
COP-27: Act now
In 2022, almost every country in the world has been affected by natural disasters
Posted on 02 Dec, 2022 10:19 AM

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.

The the poor and developing countries are more affected by these climate change induced natural disasters than the rich and developed ones(Image: MaxPixel)
Protecting children from climate change impact not child's play
In 2020, 559 million children were affected by four to five heatwaves a year; numbers could increase four-fold by 2050, as per a report by UNICEF
Posted on 06 Nov, 2022 06:57 PM

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".

Heat-related mortality is four times higher among children under 1 year of age than in persons aged 1–44 years (Image: Taqver, Wikimedia Commons)
Improving India's poor environmental performance
Environmental Performance Index ranks India at the bottom
Posted on 23 Jun, 2022 08:37 AM

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).

As per the EPI 2022 deteriorating air quality and rapidly increasing greenhouse gas emissions are the primary reasons behind the country's low score (Image: Rawpixel)
Declining fertility rate and population in India
The change in fertility rate has an impact on the population-resource relationship over any region
Posted on 03 Jan, 2022 11:17 PM

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

Rapid population growth is one of the major causes of scarcity of resources like land and water (Image: Pixabay)
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