Tag: danger

90% of India, entire Delhi in ‘danger zone’ of heatwave impacts: Study

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New Delhi: Heatwaves in India are becoming more frequent and severe due to climate change, with over 90 percent of the country in the “extremely cautious” or “danger zone” of their impacts, according to a new study.
The study, conducted by Ramit Debnath and colleagues at the University of Cambridge, also revealed that Delhi is particularly vulnerable to severe heatwave impacts, though its recent state action plan for climate change does not reflect this.
It suggested that heatwaves have impeded India’s progress towards achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) more significantly than previously thought, and that the current assessment metrics may not fully capture the impacts of heatwaves linked to climate change on the country.

Heatwaves claimed more than 17,000 lives in 50 years in India, according to a paper authored by M Rajeevan, former secretary of Ministry of Earth Sciences, along with scientists Kamaljit Ray, S S Ray, R K Giri and A P Dimri.
The paper published in 2021 said there were 706 heatwave incidents in the country from 1971-2019.
Thirteen people died from heatstroke at a Maharashtra government award function in Navi Mumbai on Sunday, making it one of the highest death tolls from a single heatwave-related event in the country’s history.
To assess India’s climate vulnerability and the potential impact of climate change on SDG progress, researchers at the University of Cambridge conducted an analytical evaluation of the country’s heat index with its climate vulnerability index.
The heat index (HI) is a measure of how hot it feels to the human body, taking into account both temperature and humidity. The climate vulnerability index (CVI) is a composite index that uses various indicators to account for socioeconomic, livelihood, and biophysical factors to study the impact of heatwave.

The researchers accessed a publicly available dataset on state-level climate vulnerability indicators from the government’s National Data and Analytics Platform to classify severity categories.
They then compared India’s progress in SDGs over 20 years (2001-2021) with extreme weather-related mortality from 2001-2021.
The study showed that more than 90 percent of India is in the “extremely cautious” or “danger” range of heatwave impacts through HI, otherwise considered “low” or “moderate” vulnerability through CVI.
States that were categorized as “low” in CVI rankings were found to be in “danger” HI categories, indicating that heatwaves put more people at extreme climate risk across India than estimated by CVI.
The authors concluded that the use of CVI may underestimate the actual burden of climate change concerning heat, and suggested that India should consider reassessing its climate vulnerabilities to meet the SDGs.
They warned that if India fails to address the impact of heatwaves immediately, it could slow progress towards achieving sustainable development goals.
The study also highlighted that the current heat-action plans designed and implemented according to the Delhi government’s vulnerability assessment do not include HI estimations, which is concerning since even the “low” climate-vulnerable areas in Delhi are at high heatwave risks.
The high intensity of development in Central, East, West, and North-East districts can further elevate the HI risks through heat island formation, it said.
The authors said some of the critical variables in Delhi that will aggravate heat-related vulnerabilities include concentration of slum population and overcrowding in high HI areas, lack of access to basic amenities like electricity, water and sanitation, non-availability of immediate healthcare and health insurance, poor condition of housing and dirty cooking fuel (biomass, kerosene and coal).
The threshold for a heatwave is met when the maximum temperature of a station reaches at least 40 degrees Celsius in the plains, at least 37 degrees Celsius in coastal areas, and at least 30 degrees Celsius in hilly regions, and the departure from normal is at least 4.5 degrees Celsius.
Earlier this month, the India Meteorological Department predicted above-normal maximum temperatures for most parts of the country from April to June, except parts of the northwest and the peninsular regions.
Above-normal heatwave days are expected in most parts of central, east, and northwest India during this period.
In 2023, India experienced its hottest February since record-keeping began in 1901. However, above-normal rainfall in March kept temperatures in check.
March 2022 was the warmest ever and the third driest in 121 years. The year also saw the country’s third-warmest April since 1901.
In India, about 75 percent of workers (around 380 million people) experience heat-related stress.
A report by the McKinsey Global Institute warns that if this continues, by 2030, the country could lose between 2.5 percent to 4.5 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per year.
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#India #entire #Delhi #danger #zone #heatwave #impacts #Study
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 20, 2023
Ukraine minister says India should recognise danger of rising impunity in neighbourhood

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New Delhi: Ukraine has indicated to India to recognise the danger of not stopping “impunity”, in an indirect reference to China and Pakistan.
As per reports, Emine Dzhaparova, Ukraine’s First Deputy Foreign Minister, told mediapersons at an interactive session held at the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) on Tuesday that India also has a difficult neighbourhood with China and Pakistan and the Crimea episode has a lesson for India too.
“Whenever impunity happens and if it is not stopped, it becomes bigger,” Dzhaparova was quoted as saying by reports.

Her comments could be seen as referring to India’s territorial disputes with China and Pakistan.
The Ukraine minister’s reference to Crimea was in relation to the events preceding the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine last year.
Dzhaparova said that these developments could serve as an example of how to handle “difficult neighbours”.
She was further quoted as saying that “Ukraine really wants India and Ukraine to be closer. Yes, there is a history between us. But we want to start a new relationship with India”.

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#Ukraine #minister #India #recognise #danger #rising #impunity #neighbourhood
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 11, 2023
Democracy not in danger, dynasty politics is: Shah targets Rahul in UP

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Kaushambi: Attacking Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his recent remarks in the UK, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said that it’s not democracy that is in danger, but “your family” and the idea of dynasty politics that is under threat.
At two public meetings in Uttar Pradesh during the day, he also slammed the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party. In Azamgarh, which has a sizeable Muslim population, he said under the previous state governments, 24-hour power supply was available “only during Ramzan”. “Now the BJP government has ensured power to entire Uttar Pradesh and heralded a new period of development,” he added.
Shah inaugurated the Kaushambi Mahotsav and honoured several players of the ‘Sansad Khel Spardha’. Later, he laid the foundation stone for the Harihar music college in Azamgarh.

He said Azamgarh was earlier known as the “centre of terrorism”, a reference to some of the accused in terror cases like the 2008 Ahmedabad serial bomb blasts hailing from the district.
But now its identity has changed to a hub of development, Shah said.
“I was the home minister of Gujarat when there were bomb blasts in Ahmedabad. The police had caught the main ‘sutradhaar’ (culprit) of it from Azamgarh,” he said.
“I want to congratulate Yogi ji (CM Yogi Adityanath). In Azamgarh, which was considered the centre of terror across the country, he got the foundation of a music college laid to give respect to its heritage,” Shah said.
In Kaushambi, Shah hit out at Gandhi for claiming in the UK that democracy is under threat, accusing his party of surrounding the Indian democracy with three “naasuron” (ulcerous wounds) casteism, dynasty politics and appeasement. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi defeated all three and hence “you are afraid,” he added.

“They say democracy is in danger. Brother, democracy is not in danger, your family is in danger. It is not the idea of India which is in danger, it is the idea of dynasty, your politics of ‘parivarvad’ (dynasty), which are in danger. It is not the democracy of India, but the autocracy of your family, which is in danger,” the senior BJP leader said.
The BJP has accused Gandhi of “insulting” the country on foreign soil and demanded an apology, but the Congress leader has said his position that India’s democracy was under attack “was known” to all.
Shah also accused the Congress party of not allowing Parliament to function.
“Yesterday, the Parliament was adjourned. In the history of independent India, it has never happened that the Budget Session ended without a sitting and discussion… What was the reason? Rahul Gandhi was disqualified as Lok Sabha MP,” the Union minister said.
On March 18, a Surat court sentenced Gandhi to two years in jail in a defamation case over his Modi surname remark. A day later, the Lok Sabha Secretariat suspended his Lok Sabha membership.
Congress accused the BJP of indulging in “vindictive politics” but the ruling party said it was the law.
On Friday, addressing the gathering in Kaushambi, Shah asked, “Who brought the law?”
He also said Gandhi was not the only leader whose membership has “gone” after sentencing by a court. “So far, the membership of 17 MLAs-MPs has gone, including that of Rahul Gandhi.”
Recalling his earlier visits to UP, before the BJP government came to power in the state, Shah said in Azamgarh there was hardly a night when power was available in rural areas. He also said it was difficult to imagine UP being “riot-free” but the Adityanath government has made it possible.
Slamming SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, who contested and won from Azamgarh Lok Sabha seat in the previous election, Shah asked the people whether he “was he seen” during the coronavirus pandemic.
“Had he come here to give vaccination doses? The prime minister got the entire country vaccinated, provided foodgrains to the poor,” the Union minister said.
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#Democracy #danger #dynasty #politics #Shah #targets #Rahul
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 7, 2023
Congress party is in danger, not democracy: Nadda in poll bound Karnataka

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Molakalmuru: BJP national President J P Nadda on Friday said, it is Congress party and not democracy which is in danger in the country, as he attacked that party’s leader Rahul Gandhi over his recent remarks in London.
He also accused the Congress leader of challenging India’s sovereignty, and urged the public to make such people sit at home.
“The way in which Congress is moving towards mental bankruptcy is reprehensible and painful. The kind of activities that the Congress party is involved in these days and what their leader Rahul Gandhi is doing is condemnable,” Nadda said.
Addressing a public meeting here, he said, Congress leaders are involved in corruption, commission, criminalisation, and divide and rule is their policy.
“Now they have crossed all limits….Rahul Gandhi goes to England and raises questions on India’s sovereignty. He says democracy has ended here. During the recent Assembly polls- in Nagaland Congress got zero, five seats in Meghalaya and three in Tripura. It is not democracy that is in danger, your party (Congress) is in danger,” he added.
The BJP President was addressing a public meeting here as part of the party’s ‘Vijaya Sankalpa Yatre’, ahead of Assembly polls by May. He was referring to Rahul Gandhi’s remarks made in London — that structures of Indian democracy are under “brutal attack”.
Further hitting out at Rahul Gandhi for allegedly seeking America and Europe’s intervention into the issue of democracy in India, he said, “Should we allow such leaders to remain (in politics)? They should be made to sit at home.”
Rahul Gandhi is challenging India’s sovereignty, he said, as he targeted the Congress for trying to preach about democracy. Nadda pointed out that it was the Congress government at the Centre that imposed emergency on the country under Indira Gandhi’s leadership.
Karnataka BJP President Nalin Kumar Kateel, state Ministers R Ashoka, B Sriramulu among others were present at the public meeting.

Earlier in the day, the BJP President held roadshows at Challakere and Molakalmuru, as part of the Yatre.
Noting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has played a key role in changing the political culture in the country, Nadda said the politics propagated by Congress was of corruption, commission, criminalisation, dynastic rule, but the PM with a responsible leadership has begun the politics of report card in the country.
A strong and responsible government that believes in serving the people, has been established by PM Modi, he said, highlighting the concept of “New India”, and listed out India’s growth as the fifth largest economy, and in sectors like automobile, digital payments, mobile phone manufacturing, among others.
Affirming that Karnataka’s picture has changed, thanks to the push given by the “double engine government” (BJP govts both in centre and state) in various sectors and in infrastructure, the BJP President said, the state stands number one in FDI inflow, innovation, startups among other areas.
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#Congress #party #danger #democracy #Nadda #poll #bound #Karnataka
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 17, 2023
In Moscow and the region declared a “yellow” level of weather danger

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In connection with the increase in wind up to 15 m/s, as well as severe black ice, the Hydrometeorological Center announced a yellow level of weather danger in Moscow and the Moscow region. This is evidenced by the data of the prognostic map on February 28 Online institutions.
“Yellow – the weather is potentially dangerous,” the message says.
Black ice warning in the capital and the region will be valid until 21.00 March 2, and gusts of wind are also warned from 9.00 March 1 to 21.00 March 2.
Earlier, on February 28, the scientific director of the Hydrometeorological Center of Russia, Roman Vilfand, predicted that the temperature in Central Russia on the first day of spring, March 1, would drop to eight degrees below zero, which corresponds to the climatic norm. Vilfand stressed that on February 28, the temperature background is expected to be 1-2 degrees below the climatic norm.
According to the forecast of the head of the prognostic center “Meteo” Alexander Shuvalov, on March 2, a surge of heat is expected in the capital. On February 27, a meteorologist told Izvestia that snow and ice would actively melt that day, forming streams on the roads. The positive temperature will last on Thursday and Friday, and a new cold snap will come to Moscow over the weekend, Shuvalov added.
Prior to this, on February 21, Phobos Center specialist Mikhail Leus said that, according to data estimates over the past 30 years, the average date for the arrival of spring has shifted a week ahead. Now, as a rule, climatic spring comes to the capital on March 20, the forecaster said.
#Moscow #region #declared #yellow #level #weather #danger

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#Moscow #region #declared #yellow #level #weather #danger
( With inputs from : pledgetimes.com )

February 28, 2023
Low Danger Level Avalanche Warning For Four Districts Of Kashmir

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SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir Disaster Management Authority (JKDMA) Sunday issued avalanche warning for four districts of Kashmir division in upcoming 24 hours.
The JKDMA, as per news agency GNS, issued the warning above 2500 metres over Ganderbal, Bandipora, Baramulla and Kupwara districts.
People living in the specified areas have been advised to take precautions and avoid venturing in the avalanche prone areas till further directions.

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#Danger #Level #Avalanche #Warning #Districts #Kashmir
( With inputs from : kashmirlife.net )

February 19, 2023
Making dinner means dicing with danger, but it’s a risk I’m willing to take

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There were a few seconds, immediately after the blade sliced deep into the tip of my left index finger and shortly before the blood began to gush, when I merely watched. There always seems to be a moment like this following an injury in the kitchen; a stillness, before the crisis management kicks in, when we are lost in bafflement at our clumsiness or stupidity or just plain bad luck.
In this case, it was a mixture of all three. My knife skills do not deserve the name. I am a home cook, not a trained chef, and I haven’t quite mastered the business of folding my finger tips under while resting my knuckles against the blade. I was shredding spring onions. I was distracted. Now I was injured.
The wound took a month to heal. Now I have a crescent-shaped scar at the tip. It gets to join all the other scars. There is the long, slug-shaped pale mark on my right wrist where it fried against the top edge of a very hot oven as I reached in with a spatula.
We assume these things fade with time, but I’m now made of older skin and bone; that one will be with me for life. There are the polka dots of multiple small burns on the ball of my left hand, caused by reaching in to get the oven tray. Now there is this new one.
Anyone who cooks regularly has these marks. I am not proud of them. I would be very happy if none of these minor accidents had occurred; if I were unscarred. No one should make light of potential disfigurement.
Happily, though, they are minor enough that I can now be curiously fond of them. They are my life in the kitchen, written on the body, the physical marks of someone who has diced vegetables and chopped onions, fretted over stock pots and poked at roasts, tasted sauces, deep fried and charred and blitzed.
The fact is that cookery is not risk free. It involves fire and knives. While the possibility of injury may decrease with experience, the likelihood of it happening increases because of repetition.
Behold the professionals. My friend Jeremy Lee, revered chef at Quo Vadis, has been cooking all day, almost every working day, for more than 30 years. “The marks really come out in the sun,” he says. “My forearms make me look like a zebra. And you look at them and go, ah, there you are.”

The great Manchester chef Mary-Ellen McTague says her attitude to minor injuries has changed over the years. “Once, they were a badge of honour,” she says. “If your finger was hanging off and you were still cooking, it was weirdly heroic. Now, I’d rather just be safe. But I do feel an affection for my scars.”
Clearly accidents happen. Such is life. There is, however, one risk in the kitchen that every cook I’ve ever discussed it with winces at the thought of: the mandolin. “Watching someone slicing on a mandolin makes me very nervous,” McTague says. “I don’t know a cook who hasn’t lost a fingertip to one of those.”
Lee understands why it happens. “Maybe you can’t find the guard,” he says. “So you go for it. And then we kick ourselves for just being silly sods and too gung ho.”
That’s how it works. We plan to make something nice to eat. Then the hand slips. The blade does its worst. And we know, for certain, that the mark of our highly developed appetites will be with us for a long time to come.
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#Making #dinner #means #dicing #danger #risk
( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )

February 16, 2023
Centre’s intervention in judiciary a danger: Former Karnataka SC judge

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Mysuru: Former Karnataka Lokayukta and Supreme Court judge, Justice N. Santhosh Hegde (retd) on Tuesday termed the Union government’s intervention in the appointment of judges and in the judicial system incorrect and “dangerous”.
At an interaction programme with media, he underlined that the executive should not intervene with the judiciary. “This kind of intervention is a dangerous development,” he warned.
“The politicians will not have any knowledge about the judiciary. If this is the case, it is not tenable to intervene in the appointment of judges or in the matters of judiciary,” Hegde said.
“I didn’t know much about the society before becoming Lokayukta. Those who become rich will get all the respect. Those who come out of jail are received with grand welcome,” he said.
Hegde further said that there is danger of the country getting divided on the lines of religion and language. However, one can’t say when it is going to happen, he added.
“Corruption is rampant in the country. The representatives of the people are having the feeling of being owners of the people. The politicians are just talking about corruption and making allegations against each other. No one wants to correct it,” he said.
If this situation continues, people will rebel against the system, he said, but added that he wouldn’t know when this situation will come.
“I got many awards, recognitions. I have donated money to organisations. I have not accepted money from anyone. I own an apartment and nothing else. We have to be clean,” he said.

Hedge also said that the delay in disposal of cases should not happen, but society is getting a different message as mediators are being approached for solutions.
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#Centres #intervention #judiciary #danger #Karnataka #judge
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 24, 2023