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Lockdowns in 2021 Not as Effective as Those in 2020 in Cleaning Delhi-NCR Air: CSE

The green think-tank also said the lockdown summers in 2020 and 2021 have been 25 to 40 per cent cleaner as compared to the summer of 2019. Coronavirus-induced lockdowns have helped improve the air quality in Delhi-NCR this year as well but not as effectively as last year since the 2021 curbs were shorter and less stringent, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has found in a study. Meteorology would be partly responsible for this trend, but it could also be a reflection of weakening of pollution control-measures and efforts in the city and region, it said. Traffic intensity was also comparatively higher in 2021, it added. This year, restrictions in Delhi started on April 6 in the form of night-curfews and weekend lockdowns with complete lockdowns being imposed on April 19. The imposition of partial-lockdown lowered PM2.5 pollutant levels by 20 per cent; while the complete lockdown brought the average down by further 12 per cent, according to the CSE analysis. ”In 2020, partial lockdown started on March 12 with hard lockdown kicking in on March 25, which was lifted in phase-wise manner from May 18. Then the partial lockdown also brought PM2.5 levels down by 20 per cent, but the hard lockdown reduced it by another 35 per cent,” the CSE said. Lifting of restrictions from May 18 had led to 28 per cent rise in PM2.5 levels, it said.

कोरोना की दूसरी लहर में गांव हुए ज्यादा प्रभावित, देश में डाॅक्टरों व चिकित्साकर्मियों की कमी: सीएसई

राज्य ब्यूरो, नई दिल्ली। सेंटर फार साइंस एंड एनवायरनमेंट (सीएसई) की शुक्रवार को जारी नई सांख्यिकीय रिपोर्ट में कोरोना को लेकर गहरी चिंता जताई गई है। इसके मुताबिक कोरोना महामारी ने देश की स्वास्थ्य सुविधाओं की पोल खोल कर रख दी है। देश के सामुदायिक स्वास्थ्य केंद्रों को 76 फीसद डाक्टर, 56 फीसद से अधिक रेडियोग्राफर और 35 फीसद से अधिक लैब तकनीशियनों की जरूरत है। कोरोना की दूसरी लहर में ग्रामीण क्षेत्र में ज्यादा मामले सामने आए, जो ¨चता का विषय है। दूसरी लहर में ग्रामीण क्षेत्र बुरी तरह प्रभावित विश्व पर्यावरण दिवस की पूर्व संध्या पर शुक्रवार को सीएसई की महानिदेशक सुनीता नारायण ने नई सांख्यिकीय रिपोर्ट स्टेट आफ इंडियाज एनवायरमेंट आनलाइन जारी की। उन्होंने कहा कि मरीजों और सुविधाओं की संख्या बताती है कि हमारी स्थिति कैसी है। डाउन टू अर्थ के प्रबंध संपादक रिचर्ड महापात्रा ने कहा कि दूसरी लहर में ग्रामीण क्षेत्र बुरी तरह प्रभावित हुआ। मई में छह दिन तक पूरी दुनिया में जो मामले आए उनमें आधे मामले देश में ही आए। उन्होंने कहा कि जलवायु संबंधी जोखिमों के साथ संक्रामक रोग 2006 के बाद पहली बार प्रमुख वैश्विक आर्थिक खतरों की सूची में शामिल हुए हैं। काफी कम हुआ है टीकाकरण, शहरी बेरोजगारी दर 15 फीसद तक पहुंची देश में कुल आबादी में केवल 3.12 फीसद को टीका लग पाया है। टीकाकरण का वैश्विक औसत 5.48 फीसद है। इस लिहाज से टीकाकरण में अभी भी कमी है। इस बार ग्रामीण क्षेत्र में फैली महामारी के कारण सकल घरेलू उत्पाद की वृद्धि दर धीमी हो सकती है। वहीं शहरी बेरोजगारी दर करीब 15 फीसद तक पहुंच गई। मनरेगा के तहत भुगतान देरी से हो रहा है। जलवायु परिवर्तन के खतरे को नहीं कर सकते नजरअंदाज सुनीता नारायण ने कहा कि कोरोना महामारी लोगों को कमजोर बना रही है। ऐसे में हम जलवायु परिवर्तन के खतरे को भी नजरअंदाज नहीं कर सकते। रिपोर्ट बताती है कि 2006 और 2020 के बीच की अवधि में 15 वर्षों में भारत में 12 सबसे गर्म वर्ष दर्ज किए गए। यह रिकार्ड के रूप में सबसे गर्म दशक था। इन आपदाओं के कारण आंतरिक विस्थापन के मामले और नुकसान के लिहाज से भारत का दुनिया में चौथा स्थान रहा। 2008 और 2020 के बीच बाढ़, भूकंप के चलते 37 लाख हुए विस्थापित 2008 और 2020 के बीच, बाढ़, भूकंप, चक्रवात और सूखे के कारण हर साल करीब 3.73 मिलियन लोग विस्थापित हुए।

Covid-19: Rural India worst hit in 2nd wave, says report

NEW DELHI: Rural areas were worst hit by the second wave of Covid-19 compared to urban centres and India accounted for over half of daily global cases for six days in May due to surge in infections in rural districts, said the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) in its ‘pandemic pointers’ released on Friday. As part of its new data compendium on overall environmental issues, released on the eve of the World Environment Day, the pointers show that 53% of new cases and 52% of deaths in the country last month were recorded in rural districts. “The Covid-19 pandemic has severely exposed India’s healthcare system. While the abysmal state of preparedness in urban India has been in the limelight, a more distressing scenario is emerging from the rural hinterland,” said the CSE in the new statistical report -- State of India’s Environment in Figures, 2021. Flagging the gaps in existing health infrastructure, it said, “The community health centres in rural India need 76% more doctors, 56% more radiographers and 35% more lab technicians.” Noting that India accounted for every other new Covid-19 case and every third death due to the infection recorded globally in the first 26 days of May, the report said, “What escaped everyone’s notice is that every second new case and death reported from India in May was from the rural districts. This means every fourth case reported in the world that month was from rural India.” Emphasising on the need to have enough data to take right policy decisions and make intervention on time to minimise the severity of crisis, CSE director general Sunita Narain said, “It is accepted today that one of the reasons we missed out on the virulence and speed of the second wave is because the model for predictions did not have adequate data on the immunity surveys on the populations.” Pointing to the load of biomedical waste the country is grappling with as a result of the pandemic, the report said there had been a 46% increase in Covid-19 biomedical waste between April and May 2021. “At the same time, treatment of this waste has dipped,” it said, noting that hospitals dealing with Covid-19 patients produced 2 lakh kg of biomedical waste per day in May which was roughly 33% of India’s non-Covid biomedical waste. Referring to available data, the report flagged a worrying picture, saying India managed to treat 88% of its biomedical waste in 2019 compared to almost 93% in 2017. “India still disposes 12% of its hospital waste without any treatment. Bihar and Karnataka fare the worst,” it said.

World Environment Day: Covid surge intensifies India's plastic, biomedical waste problem

Kerala, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Delhi and Karnataka contributed 50% of biomedical waste generated in May. These states were hit particularly hard by the second wave of the Covid-19 While India was busy dealing with an unprecedented healthcare crisis, a hazardous mess was piling in its backyard. The country produced biomedical waste to the tune of 2,03,000 kg per day as the coronavirus infection reached its peak and swamped hospitals, a report has revealed. The report titled 'State of India's Environment 2021', released by the Centre for Science and Environment, said the biomedical waste generated daily in May this year was roughly 33% of India's non-Covid biomedical waste. Further, the biomedical waste generated in May was 46% more than that in April when it had reached 1.39 lakh kg per day. In March, the daily figure was 75,000 kg. This is in line with data by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) that said India 45,308 tonnes of Covid-19 biomedical waste between June 2020 and 10 May 2021. The report found that Kerala, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Delhi and Karnataka contributed 50% of biomedical waste generated in May. These states were hit particularly hard by the second wave of the Covid-19. Drawing a comparison, the report informed that the biomedical waste generated per day in 2017 was 5.59 lakh kg and the quantity of waste treated daily was 519 kg. In 2019, 6.19 lakh kg biomedical waste was generated and 545 kg was treated daily. India still disposes of 12% of its hospital waste without any treatment with Bihar and Karnataka faring the worst, it said. "In 2019, India treated 88% of its biomedical waste, down from 92.8% in 2017," the report authored by Kiran Pandey and Rajit Sengupta, said. Biomedical waste includes cultures, stocks of infectious agents, associated biologicals, human blood and blood products, contaminated sharps, amputated body parts and isolation waste. Although it is a small proportion of the total waste generated (around 1%), it needs special handling due to its highly toxic contents that can pose a severe threat to human health, the report said.

How Covid-19 Pandemic Hampered the Movement Against Climate Change: CSE Director Explains

From Assam floods, Uttarakhand Forest fires, to several severe cyclones like Amphan, Tauktae and Yaas, India has been ravaged by multiple natural disasters, as it struggled to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic in the last year. However, like everything else, environmental concerns and natural disasters had also taken a backseat, as the mounting death toll, and overflowing hospitals took over the news and social media. While there was a minor moment of euphoria as we all began working from home, and the pollution level dropped, things quickly went back to the status quo when the lockdowns reopened. In an interview with News18.com, Sunita Narain, the Director of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said that during the past year, we have failed to learn ‘any lessons about how to keep our air clean and our climate emission-free.’ Here are a few excerpts from the interview. How has the COVID-19 pandemic adversely affected the fight against climate change? To begin with, the fight against the virus has deflected attention from some very critical issues of our survival – and climate change is one of them. Public and policy attention has remained focused on fighting the enemy at hand – but climate change is a real risk that will not wait for anyone: it has been wreaking havoc, as could be seen during the recent cyclones. The pandemic triggered lockdowns and an economic slowdown, which have led to brief periods of reduction in emissions. However, the gain has been lost as swiftly as soon as economies reopened – we did not learn any lessons about how to keep our air clean and our climate emission-free. One of the biggest climate injustices is the fact that the poor and the marginalized often face the worst impact of climate change, despite using far fewer environment degrading resources. The repeated cyclones that hit both coasts of India the past year are obviously a sign of that. How can disaster management methods cater better to the poor? The IPCC points out that 50 million people are at risk of hunger due to changing climate. Millions are affected by extreme weather, and there is an increased toll on countries that already have a high burden of poverty and infectious diseases. Obviously, our disaster management plans must prioritise the poor and the vulnerable. We have to establish more efficient systems and models of predicting weather, climate and disasters – one of the key learnings from the ongoing pandemic has been the inability of nations to anticipate such disasters and their impacts. Community-based responses and protection strategies could also be a part of an overall strategy. Methane in the atmosphere reached record levels last year, according to the data from the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. What kind of adverse effects can this have on the environment? What steps should be taken to mitigate the rise of methane in the atmosphere? Urgent action is required to bring methane back to a pathway more in line with the Paris goals. Implementation of technical advances made in the reduction of emissions of anthropogenic sources such as the fossil fuel industries and landfills needs to be implemented. In India, according to the Solid Waste Rules of 2016, landfills need to be upgraded to control GHG emissions, especially methane. Though the law and technical know-how exists, implementation is weak. According to the UNFCCC, measures to reduce methane include a shift to renewable energy, residential and commercial energy efficiency, and a reduction in food loss and waste, which can reduce methane emissions by a further 15 per cent by 2030. Attention also needs to be given to measures to reduce emissions from “intractable” (harder to mitigate) anthropogenic sources such as agriculture and biomass burning. These have traditionally received less attention and are also becoming more feasible, including removal from elevated-methane ambient air near to sources. Finally, developed economies such as the USA who are currently following the Obama era switch to natural gas (a great source of methane emissions) from the more polluting fossil fuels, need to switch to renewable energy. Most of the international climate change agreements/treaties signed by different countries are not legally binding. How can countries be made more accountable to reduce their emission rates? There are two sides of the spectrum: on one side are developed countries that are historical emitters of GHG and have greatly benefited from the industrial revolution. At the other end lie the developing and poor countries that have not contributed to the atmospheric GHG budget historically; these remain poor and unable to afford the technologies needed to counter climate change. Both types of countries have signed up to reducing their GHG emissions at the Paris Agreement. However, their capacities with regard to money, ability and opportunity is not equal. Therefore, the burden of reducing GHG emissions needs to fall more on historical emitters who have the resources and the capacity to do so. To ensure accountability of rich countries, it is essential that they stand up to their financial commitments — contribute to and replenish the Green Climate Fund, and support technology transfer to the poorer nations. Nations must realise that climate change is affecting everyone and each country: while cyclones ravage one region of the world, wildfires rage in other parts. Nations must understand the enormous cost that they are incurring as a result. They must accept that climate change is a clear and present danger, and has to be met collectively.

‘There are no 10 ways to save the planet’: Sunita Narain

The poor and the farmers are the worst victims of climate change, says the environmentalist-activist who has been awarded Edinburgh Medal 2020 Over the last five decades, Sunita Narain has been striving to make environmental consciousness everybody’s business. Be it her work on rainwater harvesting, efforts to introduce CNG in Delhi, advocacy of pro-poor policies, or the fight for an equitable climate change agreement, the Padma Shri awardee has been a strong voice championing climate justice. When I speak with Narain, she is fielding calls and emails after the release of ‘Honeygate’, the Centre for Science and Environment’s (CSE) report on honey adulteration. Not many know that the investigation took all of three months and was done entirely during the lockdown. No mean feat for the environmentalist, who won Edinburgh Medal 2020 last month, awarded for significant contributions to science and technology and to the wellbeing of humanity. “COVID-19 is the result of our progressively worsening dystopian relationship with nature,” she said at the virtual awards ceremony, adding that the climate crisis was making the world’s poor even more marginalised and insecure. Excerpts from an interview: What led to the Honeygate investigation? We kept getting distress calls from beekeepers in North India who said the market price for honey had crashed and it wasn’t selling. On the other hand, there is anecdotal data that suggests COVID-19 has led to an increase in honey consumption because of its immunity-boosting and anti-inflammatory properties. We were intrigued with the beekeepers’ claims who, in literal Chinese whispers, spoke about a ‘Chinese syrup’ that was being used to adulterate honey. We went on to find the ‘designer’ syrup that could bypass Indian rules and also studied how they have been altered over the years. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has been putting out notices about a similar ‘rice syrup’ being imported to India. When we spiked it with raw honey, it cleared all the lab tests. This was really scary. We then sent samples from 13 big brands for advanced testing to Germany and they failed the test. The business of adulteration is a sophisticated one. The bigger concern is the threat to bees. They are the harbingers of the ecosystem’s health and if not for them, you won’t have food productivity. It was the bee colonies’ collapse that pointed to the overuse of pesticides in large parts of the world and in India. As for the backlash from companies, this is a textbook case. The first response is to deny, then bring in scientific jugglery with test reports, followed by attacks on us as ‘foreign agents’. What we are expecting now is that they will use the government to target us and prove us wrong. They have huge ad spends to convince the customer and this worries us enormously. We have made our presentation to FSSAI and hope the regulator will take it forward. Is it too late to reverse the climate crisis? I will never say it is too late. But yes, we are running out of time. Climate change has been talked about, at least seriously, in international negotiations since 1991. Since then, the world has only procrastinated, prevaricated and delayed serious action — we are already seeing the consequences. There are no 10 ways to save the planet. But governments all over the world are certain that there are ways in which you can reduce greenhouse gas emissions. No country has really made big-time investments to move out of fossil fuel yet. Some exceptions are the U.S. (shifted from coal to gas, which is still a fossil fuel), Germany (solar), the U.K., Norway and Denmark (offshore wind), and Sweden (biomass, hydro and nuclear). If you can reduce emissions from the energy sector, don’t increase it somewhere else. For instance, in the U.S., they have had a massive 30% reduction in energy-related emissions in the last decade, but the country’s consumption has increased as fuel is cheaper. Now, their emissions are higher than in 2016. We need to reduce energy-related emissions and also ensure that we bring change in every other field, particularly transportation. The poor and the farmers are the worst victims of climate change. They are not responsible for the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, but are the victims of our excesses. World over, young people are urging us to take climate change seriously. We need to pay heed to those voices. These are interesting times from which we should learn and change the way we are doing things. Unfortunately, our governance systems are still wedded to the old ways and not ready to change. What are your views on the controversial draft Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) 2020 and the impact the proposed expansion projects, in Mollem and the Jolly Grant airport, for instance, will have on India’s environment? This is the final nail in a coffin. But you already have a coffin made out of the corruption of environmental clearance procedures. The scrutiny of projects is being done today by faceless committees who take no responsibility for their decisions. For instance, the Navi Mumbai airport proposal went through years of convoluted decision-making. Environmentalists opposed it, but the government finally cleared it with conditions. Once the airport is built, is there any way to check whether those conditions have been complied with? No, because there is no monitoring. The EIA notification has already been killed by successive governments, not just the current one. We should be demanding a better process of environmental clearance instead of clinging to the draft. You were part of the 22-year-old Environmental Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA) that has been dissolved to give way to the Commission for Air Quality Management in the NCR and adjoining areas. How do you see the new body tackling the spiralling crisis? I’m very proud to have done the work we have done at EPCA. We have managed to take several tough, contested actions — be it control on the trucks or the closure of the last thermal power plant in Badarpur, New Delhi. We were able to do it because EPCA was a court-mandated authority. Today, the fact that the government has dissolved it and set up the commission is a good thing because we need a permanent body. The government has signalled that they are taking full charge of the issue, which I see as an important step ahead. Now, it’s about enforcement and making sure the local sources of pollution (stubble and garbage burning) are controlled. COVID-19 has reversed the ongoing war against single-use plastic. What are your thoughts on this? The pandemic has increased the amount of plastic waste and this should worry us tremendously because one crisis is adding to another. The politics of it is in the seemingly benign word, ‘recycling’, that the plastic industry uses to get us to use more. There’s a lot of plastic that cannot be recycled because it is not economically viable. It is the responsibility of us middle-class Indians, who use plastic, to be aware of the implications of our actions. Do you think the Biden-Harris team will change the way the U.S. has handled the climate crisis till now? The change of top leadership in the U.S. is important for the climate movement as the former president was so out of sync with reality and a climate-change denier. The Biden-Harris team has clearly stated that they are committed to climate change action, and we need them to take effective action. What the U.S. does is important for climate change negotiations because, in some sense, it’s an indicator species. If they are able to do things then the whole world will do it. In India, we need to do a lot more. There is an awareness among the top leadership of the need to do things, but I don’t think there is enough knowledge about the scale at which we need to act. When it comes to air pollution, for instance, I have been arguing that just like we had CNG for vehicles, we need to have natural gas for industries. It’s a win-win situation because you have industrial growth, but without pollution. But that requires a different taxation system. India needs what we call the co-benefit approach: we need economic growth but we need to do it in a way that lowers air pollution. Why is investing in energy access for the poor crucial in our fight against climate change? Climate change and air pollution are great equalisers, affecting the rich and the poor equally. If the poor are hit today, the rich will also be impacted eventually . And we are already witnessing that as wild fires and floods become frequent. The whole world is interconnected and interdependent. Whether we are willing to accept that and take the necessary steps is for our leaders to decide.

Over 2 lakh kg COVID-19 biomedical waste generated daily in May, says report

Over two lakh kilograms of biomedical waste was generated each day last month by hospitals in India dealing with COVID-19 patients, a new report revealed on Friday. The report titled ''State of India''s Environment 2021'', released by the Centre for Science and Environment, said 2,03,000 kg of COVID-19 biomedical waste was produced daily in May this year and it was roughly 33 per cent of India''s non-COVID biomedical waste. It said the COVID-19 biomedical waste generated per day in May was 46 per cent more than in April when 1.39 lakh kg of such waste was produced daily. In March, the daily figure was 75,000 kg, according to the report. April and May witnessed a deadly second wave of coronavirus cases that swept through the country stretching the healthcare infrastructure to its limits. The report by the Centre for Science and Environment found that Kerala, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Delhi and Karnataka contributed 50 per cent of COVID-19 biomedical waste generated in May. All these states were hit particularly hard by the second wave of the COVID-19 contagion. The report also said the biomedical waste generated per day in 2017 was 5.59 lakh kg and the quantity of waste treated daily was 519 kg. In 2019, 6.19 lakh kg biomedical waste was generated and 545 kg was treated daily. India still disposes of 12 per cent of its hospital waste without any treatment with Bihar and Karnataka faring the worst, it said. "In 2019, India treated 88 per cent of its biomedical waste, down from 92.8 per cent in 2017,” the report authored by Kiran Pandey and Rajit Sengupta, said. Biomedical waste includes cultures, stocks of infectious agents, associated biologicals, human blood and blood products, contaminated sharps, amputated body parts and isolation waste. Although it is a small proportion of the total waste generated (around 1 per cent), it needs special handling due to its highly toxic contents that can pose a severe threat to human health, the report said.

39 lakh people displaced in India in 2020 due to climate disasters, conflicts: Report

As many as 39 lakh people in India were displaced in 2020 due to climate disasters and conflicts, making it the fourth worst-hit country in the world to have such a high number of internal displacements, a new report said on Friday. The top three countries with high internal displacements last year were China, Philippines and Bangladesh, where over four million people were displaced, according to the State of India''s Environment Report 2021 released by the Centre for Science and Environment. The report stated that 76 per cent of the internal displacements globally in 2020 were triggered by climate disasters. It said 4.05 crore people were displaced in the world that year, out of which, 3.07 crore people were displaced due to climate disasters and 98 lakh due to conflicts and violence. In India, 39 lakh people were displaced in 2020 due to climate disasters, conflicts and violence, the report stated. However, most of the displacements occurred due to major climate disasters like avalanches and landslides in Jammu and Kashmir, flood in Tamil Nadu, glacial lake outburst in Uttarakhand, Cyclone Nivar in Puducherry and Cyclone Burevi in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, it said. It also said that an average of around 3.73 million people a year were displaced between 2008 and 2020, the majority by flooding during the monsoon. “India is also prone to other sudden and slow-onset hazards, including earthquakes, tsunamis, cyclones, storm surges and droughts,” it said. The report projected that India could see 2.3 million internal displacements every year due to earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, cyclonic winds and storms. According to the report, the last decade saw the highest number of cyclonic storms over the north Indian Ocean since the 1970s. Between 1971 and 2020, 127 cyclonic storms hit India, out of which, the maximum cyclones (33) were recorded between 2011 and 2020. Five cyclonic storms occurred in 2020 alone. While Cyclone Amphan crossed the West Bengal coast over Sundarbans on May 20 this year and claimed 90 lives and about 4,000 livestock, Cyclone Nisarga crossed Maharashtra coast on June 3. It claimed four lives and 2,000 livestock. Cyclone Nivar crossed Tamil Nadu and Puducherry coasts close to north of Puducherry and claimed 12 lives and 10,836 livestock over Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Lastly, Cyclone Burevi claimed nine lives and 200 livestock. Cyclone Gati made landfall over Somalia coast. The report stated that 21 major weather events claimed over 1,374 lives in 2020. Heavy rains, floods and thunderstorms were responsible for over 51 per cent of the deaths. Lightning was responsible for 33 per cent of the deaths. The data shared in the report revealed that out of the 1,374 deaths in the country, 300 people died in Bihar alone. In Uttar Pradesh, 189 people lost their lives, while 144 people died in Jharkhand due to extreme weather events. In Assam, heavy rain and flood took 129 lives in 2020, while 73 people died in Maharashtra and 72 each in Madhya Pradesh and Kerala, it said. Other states where people died due to extreme weather events are Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Rajasthan, the report added.

39 lakh people displaced in India in 2020 due to climate disasters, conflicts: Report

The report stated that 76 per cent of the internal displacements globally in 2020 were triggered by climate disasters. NEW DELHI: As many as 39 lakh people in India were displaced in 2020 due to climate disasters and conflicts, making it the fourth worst-hit country in the world to have such a high number of internal displacements, a new report said on Friday. The top three countries with high internal displacements last year were China, Philippines and Bangladesh, where over four million people were displaced, according to the State of India's Environment Report 2021 released by the Centre for Science and Environment. The report stated that 76 per cent of the internal displacements globally in 2020 were triggered by climate disasters. It said 4.05 crore people were displaced in the world that year, out of which, 3.07 crore people were displaced due to climate disasters and 98 lakh due to conflicts and violence. In India, 39 lakh people were displaced in 2020 due to climate disasters, conflicts and violence, the report stated. However, most of the displacements occurred due to major climate disasters like avalanches and landslides in Jammu and Kashmir, flood in Tamil Nadu, glacial lake outburst in Uttarakhand, Cyclone Nivar in Puducherry and Cyclone Burevi in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, it said. It also said that an average of around 3.73 million people a year were displaced between 2008 and 2020, the majority by flooding during the monsoon. "India is also prone to other sudden and slow-onset hazards, including earthquakes, tsunamis, cyclones, storm surges and droughts," it said. The report projected that India could see 2.3 million internal displacements every year due to earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, cyclonic winds and storms. According to the report, the last decade saw the highest number of cyclonic storms over the north Indian Ocean since the 1970s. Between 1971 and 2020, 127 cyclonic storms hit India, out of which, the maximum cyclones (33) were recorded between 2011 and 2020. Five cyclonic storms occurred in 2020 alone. While Cyclone Amphan crossed the West Bengal coast over Sundarbans on May 20 this year and claimed 90 lives and about 4,000 livestock, Cyclone Nisarga crossed Maharashtra coast on June 3. It claimed four lives and 2,000 livestock. Cyclone Nivar crossed Tamil Nadu and Puducherry coasts close to north of Puducherry and claimed 12 lives and 10,836 livestock over Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Lastly, Cyclone Burevi claimed nine lives and 200 livestock. Cyclone Gati made landfall over Somalia coast. The report stated that 21 major weather events claimed over 1,374 lives in 2020. Heavy rains, floods and thunderstorms were responsible for over 51 per cent of the deaths. Lightning was responsible for 33 per cent of the deaths. The data shared in the report revealed that out of the 1,374 deaths in the country, 300 people died in Bihar alone. In Uttar Pradesh, 189 people lost their lives, while 144 people died in Jharkhand due to extreme weather events. In Assam, heavy rain and flood took 129 lives in 2020, while 73 people died in Maharashtra and 72 each in Madhya Pradesh and Kerala, it said. Other states where people died due to extreme weather events are Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Rajasthan, the report added.

2021 lockdowns not as effective as last year's in cleaning Delhi-NCR air, says CSE

Days meeting the air quality standard also plummeted this spring to just two Lockdowns have improved the air quality in Delhi-NCR this year as well but not as effectively as last year due to the 2021 curbs being shorter and lesser stringent, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has found in a study. Meteorology would be partly responsible for this trend, but it could also be a reflection of weakening of pollution control-measures and efforts in the city and region, it said. Traffic intensity was also comparatively higher in 2021, it added. This year, restrictions in Delhi started on April 6 in the form of night-curfews and weekend lockdowns, with complete lockdowns being imposed on April 19. The imposition of partial-lockdown lowered PM2.5 pollutant levels by 20 per cent; while the complete lockdown brought the average down by further 12 per cent, according to the CSE analysis. "In 2020, partial lockdown started on March 12 with hard lockdown kicking in on March 25, which was lifted in phase-wise manner from May 18. Then the partial lockdown also brought PM2.5 levels down by 20 per cent, but the hard lockdown reduced it by another 35 per cent," the CSE said. Lifting of restrictions from May 18 had led to a 28 per cent rise in PM2.5 levels, it said. The green think-tank also said the lockdown summers in 2020 and 2021 have been 25 to 40 per cent cleaner as compared to the summer of 2019. It also said that spring of 2021 (January-March) has recorded the highest pollution levels for the season since 2019. Normally, PM2.5 levels have a seasonal cycle, with winter being the most polluted and monsoon season being the cleanest. Spring (January to March) acts as a transitional period between the two extremes – winter and summer A significant drop in PM2.5 levels happens as the weather warms up and wind picks up speed during spring. "There was a 26 per cent drop between winter of 2018 and spring of 2019. In 2020, this drop increased to 36 per cent due to pollution control measures in place and also imposition of partial lockdowns in March 2020. But this downward trend in spring pollution did not continue this year, with the seasonal drop limited to 18 per cent," the report said. "In fact, spring this year has been 31 per cent dirtier than 2020 and 8 per cent dirtier than 2019," it said. The CSE analysis also showed that there were 27 "very poor" days in terms of air quality this February-March compared to 17 in 2020 and 12 in 2019. Days meeting the air quality standard also plummeted this spring to just two. The year 2020 had 16 and 2019 had six days when the standard was met, it said.

Second wave of coronavirus targeted rural India, says report

India's rural areas have seen surge in infections in the second wave and a more distressing scenario is emerging from the rural hinterland than the urban centres, according to a report by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). CSE in its report named 'pandemic pointers' said that the rural areas are worst hit and over half of daily global cases happened in India on six days in May – triggered due to the surge in cases in rural districts or towns. The report, as compiled by Times of India says that the pointers show that 53% of new cases and 52% of deaths in the country last month were recorded in rural districts. Flagging the gaps in existing health infrastructure</a>, it said, “The community health centres in rural India need 76% more doctors, 56% more radiographers and 35% more lab technicians.” Noting that India accounted for every other new Covid-19 case and every third death due to the infection recorded globally in the first 26 days of May, the report said, “What escaped everyone’s notice is that every second new case and death reported from India in May was from the rural districts. This means every fourth case reported in the world that month was from rural India.” Emphasising on the need to have enough data to take right policy decisions and make intervention on time to minimise the severity of crisis, CSE director general Sunita Narain said, “It is accepted today that one of the reasons we missed out on the virulence and speed of the second wave is because the model for predictions did not have adequate data on the immunity surveys on the populations.” Pointing to the load of biomedical waste the country is grappling with as a result of the pandemic, the report said there had been a 46% increase in Covid-19 biomedical waste between April and May 2021. “At the same time, treatment of this waste has dipped,” it said, noting that hospitals dealing with Covid-19 patients produced 2 lakh kg of biomedical waste per day in May which was roughly 33% of India’s non-Covid biomedical waste. Referring to available data, the report flagged a worrying picture, saying India managed to treat 88% of its biomedical waste in 2019 compared to almost 93% in 2017. “India still disposes 12% of its hospital waste without any treatment. Bihar and Karnataka fare the worst,” it said.