The scorching heat, floods, increase in landslides due to rising climate crisis
Climate change in India is no longer the ups and downs of the weather. Now its social and economic aspects are also emerging rapidly. The major reason for the climate crisis is considered to be industrialization and comfortable lifestyle of the rich, which are costing poor and marginalized people. The burden of arbitrariness with the environment is now breaking on the head of the working class, they are facing the most. The 2023 Oxfam report is confirmed. According to the report, India’s richest 10 percent of the people, the poorest 50 percent of the people, are four times more responsible for carbon emissions. It is his lifestyle behind this, including large SUV vehicles, frequent air conditioners and uncontrolled consumption items. Together they have increased global warming rapidly.
Another dimension of this inequality is social structure. A report from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Bangalore shows that the effect of climate change is uneven not only on economic, but also on caste basis. Low castes and economically weaker communities have to live with insufficient resources to withstand heat, floods and droughts.
Weather hit
By the way, the whole of South Asia has been kept in the ‘Red Zone’ due to rapid deteriorating effects due to climate change. But this is the most impact on India. According to the Indian Metrological Department (IMD) report, the summer season came ahead of time in 2025. In many places in the country, the temperature crossing 50 degrees has now become ‘normal’. According to the World Meteorological Organization’s 2023 State of the Climate report, 2023 was the hottest year ever. However, not only the heat, but the problems of flood and drought have also increased very fast. Not even Dhannaseth, but the poor have been affected.
Lands of Land: Land in Doda, Jammu, 26 June
According to the 2023 report by the National Disaster Management Authority, there has been a 40 percent increase in flood incidents in India in the last decade. The floods in Assam in 2023 displaced 70 lakh people and destroyed 2.5 lakh hectares of agricultural land. The 2024 floods in Bihar affected 12 lakh people, most of which were from the lower-age class. The report of the Ministry of Earth Science states that the situation will be more frightening in the coming time. The rising temperature due to climate change will melt the Himalayan glaciers rapidly and the flood problems will increase further.
Drought like fatal heat and floods is also a serious consequence of climate change. According to the Central Water Commission’s 2024 report, the drought situation in 21 states of India is becoming serious. In states like Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, 30 percent crop was destroyed due to drought between 2019–2023. This had the most impact on small and marginal farmers. The effect of drought is not limited to agriculture only. Drinking water crisis is increasing in rural areas due to lack of water. According to a report by the NITI Aayog, by 2030, there will be a shortage of ground water in 21 cities of India like Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai, affecting about 100 million people. In the 2019 “Climate Change Risk Index”, India is placed in the ‘high risk’ category.
However, whether it is intense heat, drought or any disastrous form of floods or climate change, all of these have not affected those alleged elite people of the society, but on those who are economically and socially at the lowest rung of society.
Evilism of urbanization
The effect of climate change in cities is even more frightening. The facilities of the rich such as air conditioners, large malls and concrete forests are increasing urban temperature. This is called “Urban Heat Island Effect”. This effect is clearly visible in cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. According to a report published in The Nature titled ‘Energy requirements for life in India’, “Demand for air-conditioning in India, five times more than the energy required to meet the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.”
Mukundan Menon, MD, an electrical appliance company Voltas, said at an industry event, “At present, 1.5 million ACs are being purchased in a year. The sales have doubled in the last four years and it will increase in the coming time.” The question may also arise from this that in India with an annual income of about 2.5 lakh rupees per person, who will buy so many ACs?
According to a report by Azim Premji University, “82 percent of India’s male and 92 percent female workers earn less than 10 thousand rupees a month.” In a country where a population of 75 crores earns only 250 rupees in a day, is it possible to put AC for it? The answer is no.
Effect on livelihood and health
Climate change affects livelihood and health the most. Separate research is also underlining this. A report by Purpose-Lad Publishing states that the increase in temperature by one degree reduces the earnings of laborers by 14 percent. This damage further increases in areas affected by floods and droughts.
According to the Lancet Countdown’s 2022 report, the heat in 2021 caused a global loss of 470 billion labor hours, affecting income of Rs 39 lakh crore. In India, this disadvantage was especially on the lower-age class and marginalized communities.
The results of global warming are now becoming fatal. In 2023, a garbage picker in Ghazipur, Delhi died on the road due to the heat. Local resident Majida Begum said, “The family took him to the hospital, but he was declared dead there. The heat killed him, but who is responsible for it?”
According to the National Crime Records Bureau, 20,615 deaths occurred between 2000–2020, but independent studies claim that the actual number is far more. Floods and drought deaths are also not included in this figure, as no concrete records are kept.
Policies and reality
Many schemes have been implemented in India to deal with climate change, but their ground effect is limited. Ahmedabad implemented the country’s first heat action plan in 2010, decreasing the deaths from heat by 27 percent. The scheme included public cooling centers, emergency medical services and changes in working hours. However, a review of the Center for Policy Research suggests that most of the 37 heat action plans lack adaptation to the local conditions.
There is also a lack of overall policies to deal with floods and droughts. According to NDMA’s 2023 report, budget allocation for flood management is inadequate and water conservation schemes in drought affected areas are limited to paper.
According to the United Nations, it is now imperative to keep global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius. In such a situation, we need to be conscious in time. Climate change is no longer an environmental crisis, but also a symbol of social and economic inequality. Till the policies and resources reach these communities, it will become deeper.
