News

Climate impact on health: India’s heat-related deaths went up by 55% – The Lancet data

Published

3 years ago

2022/10/29

Growing reliance on fossil fuels have increased heat deaths, hunger, heat-related illnesses and infectious diseases, according to a new study.Some 98 million more people, across the world, reported moderate to severe food insecurity, in 2020, than the average in 1981-2010, noted the study published by The Lancet, a journal, on October 25, 2022. Extreme weather events were devastating for countries across the world.

The Lancet came out with its global annual countdown on the health impacts of climate change, less than a fortnight ahead of the 27th Conference of Parties (CoP 27) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The findings of the report are grim.Vulnerable populations were exposed to 3.7 billion more heatwave days, in 2021 than annually in 1986–2005, the report noted. Heat-related deaths increased by 68 percent between 2000–2004 and 2017–2021.

The number of months, suitable for malaria transmission, increased by 31.3 percent, and and 13·8 percent in the highland areas of the Americas, and the highland areas of Africa from 1951–60 to 2012–21 respectively. The likelihood of dengue transmission rose by 12 percent, between 1951–60 and 2012–21.An India-specific factsheet, derived from data in The Lancet report but not a part of the document itself, has significant findings.

It found that heat-related deaths increased by 55 percent between 2000-2004 and 2017-2021.Some 167.2 billion potential labour hours were lost due to heat exposure. It amounts to an equivalent economic loss of 5.4 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product. The number of months, suitable for dengue transmission by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, rose to 5.6 months each year — 1.69 percent increase, between 1951-1960 and 2012-2021.Infants went through 0.9 more heatwave days per year, while adults, over 65, experienced 3.7 more days per person compared to 1986, the factsheet noted.

“Countries and companies continue to make choices that threaten the health and survival of people in every part of the world,” the report noted in its call to action.

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News

Ministerial Committee appointed to submit recommendations on proposed program to mitigate loss of crops to wild animals

Published

11 mins ago

2026/03/4

Priyan

The rural agricultural livelihood and food security have been severely impacted due to the damage caused by wild animals such as elephants, wild boars, monkeys, toque macaque, squirrels, and peacocks roaming around human habitats and cultivated lands.

Animal-human conflicts and property destruction have mostly been reported around these areas, and serious social and economic issues have also arisen.

Therefore, the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Land, and Irrigation has prepared a comprehensive program based on the opinions of all stakeholders, including the public, university community, farmers’ organizations, environmentalists, non-governmental organizations which work for environmental issues, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Agrarian Development, and other relevant organizations.

Taking into consideration the report submitted by the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land, and Irrigation, the Cabinet of Ministers has decided to appoint a ministerial committee with the participation of other relevant ministers, chaired by the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land, and Irrigation, to submit appropriate recommendations on how the aforementioned program should be implemented by further reviewing the proposals included in the said program and incorporating new proposals.

News

Cabinet approves import of Maize to meet shortfall

Published

1 hour ago

2026/03/4

Priyan

The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the resolution furnished by the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land, and Irrigation to determine the price of the maize by a committee appointed by the Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Land, and Irrigation in the future and to import only the quantity of maize that could not be supplied locally for the production of animal feed, under the supervision of the Department of Animal Production and Health.

Business

Cabinet nod for the removal of Cess tax imposed on imported good

Published

1 hour ago

2026/03/4

Priyan

The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the joint resolution furnished by the President in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development and the Minister of Industries and Entrepreneurship Development to phase the removal of Cess tax imposed on imported goods under 2,634 combined classification codes identified over 4 years [from 2026 to 2029\.