India: Data story: Despite floods, figures show sharp decline in rainfall in India since the 1940s
By M R Subramani
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Data on rainfall that India has received since 1900, shared with Swarajya by one of its readers C Kishore Iyer, show a disturbing trend. Decade-wise, there has been a steady drop in rainfall that India has been receiving, particularly after the 1940s.
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Why has the amount of rainfall that India has been receiving dropped? There can be two reasons for the drop in the annual rainfall.
One, a decrease in forest cover from the 1960s to at least early this century.
According to the Centre, dense forest cover in the country has increased to nearly three per cent of the country’s geographical area compared with 1.56 per cent in 2003.
But the government data is being disputed by experts who point out to the decline of nearly four per cent in forest cover in the Western Ghats in recent years. One of the reasons for the floods and damages in Kerala’s Idukki and Wayanad districts last year and this year was due to loss of forest cover, they say.
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Two, global warming.
Greenhouse gas emissions have increased by 70 per cent between 1970 and 2004. Carbon dioxide emissions from motor vehicles increased to 4.6 billion tonnes a year from 1.8 billion tonnes between 1971 and 2005.
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