What will the rising mercury this summer do to Indian inflation?
Temperatures continue to hit new highs every subsequent year. In its March 2024 update, the World Meteorological Organisation’s (WMO) annual State of the Global Climate report confirmed that 2023 was the warmest year on record, with the global average near-surface temperature at 1.45° Celsius above the pre-industrial baseline. Add to this, it was the warmest 10-year period on record.
The agency added that the 2023-24 El Niño had peaked, but was still one of the five strongest on record. While the weather pattern was gradually weakening, it will continue to impact global climate, with above-normal temperatures predicted over almost all land areas between March and May this year. The India Meteorological Department recently predicted that above-normal temperatures are likely to prevail over most parts of the country during the 2024 hot weather season (April to June), except some parts of east, northeast and northwest India.
In official parlance, a heatwave is recorded if the maximum temperature of a station reaches at least 40° Celsius for plains and 30° Celsius or more for hilly regions. A departure from normal in the range of 4.5-6.4° Celsius is viewed as a heatwave, while anything more than 6.4° Celsius above the norm is termed a ‘severe’ state. Bolster defences: Indian authorities have taken proactive measures to mitigate the impact of heat.
For instance, power ministry officials have held reviews on ensuring uninterrupted power availability in cooperation with counterparts like India’s coal and railway departments. Coal stocks have also been built up to meet peak demand, which is likely to be higher this year than experienced in past summer months. The ministry has projected 260GW peak power demand in the second
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