1)Gender equality/Socio-economic development/Empowerment of women :-
Office of the Registrar General , Census Commissioner and Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation are involved in collection and dissemination of data covering wide range of issues that affect women’s empowerment. The report titled “Women and Men in India – 2015” by Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation, Government of India highlights the status of women covering health, education, work and decision making along with social obstacles in women’s empowerment.
The Ministry of Women and Child Development is administering following schemes for gender equality/socio-economic development/empowerment of women:-
- Swadhar and Short Stay Homes to provide relief and rehabilitation to destitute women and women in distress.
- Working Women Hostels for ensuring safe accommodation for working women away from their place of residence.
- Support to Training and Employment Program for Women (STEP) to ensure sustainable employment and income generation for marginalised and asset-less rural and urban poor women across the country.
- Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK) to provide micro-finance services to bring about the socio-economic upliftment of poor women.
- National Mission for Empowerment of Women (NMEW) to strengthen the overall processes that promote all-round Development of Women
- Rajiv Gandhi National Creche Scheme for Children of Working Mothers (including single mother) to provide day care facilities for running a crèche of 25 children in the age group 0-6 years from families having monthly income of less than Rs 12,000.Creche is day care center.
- One Stop Centre to provide integrated support and assistance to women affected by violence.
- Scheme for Universalisation of Women Helpline intended to provide 24 hours immediate and emergency response to women affected by violence.
- Sabla Scheme for holistic development of adolescent girls in the age group of 11-18 years.
In order to improve employability a separate Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship has been created.
Equal Remuneration Act, 1973 provides for payment of equal remuneration to men and women workers for the same work of similar nature without any discrimination.
In order to ensure social security to the workers including women in the unorganised sector, the Government has enacted the Unorganised Workers’ Social Security Act 2008.
The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 regulates employment of women in certain establishments for a certain period (12 weeks) before and after childbirth and provides for maternity and other benefits.
Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana (IGMSY) Scheme is being implemented as Conditional Maternity Benefit for pregnant and lactating women to improve health and nutrition status to better enabling environment by providing cash incentives to pregnant and nursing mothers to partly compensate wage loss both prior to and after delivery.
The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 has been enacted, which covers all women, irrespective of their age or employment status and protect them against sexual harassment at all workplaces both in public and private sector, whether organised or unorganised.
The utility of this news:- Almost all of us know what are the problems associated with gender equality and empowerment of women , however , while analyzing questions related to this ,though we put forth the issues , it is equally necessary to end it in a positive note and for this – the schemes launched by government will help us to end our analysis in the exam in a optimistic note.This makes it an important piece of information.Moreover many questions are asked from the provisions of the schemes in the prelims as well, and schemes related to women empowerment is of vital importance for the exam .
2)Solar Power :-
- Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, has been implementing Solar Pumping programme through States, NABARD & other Government departments for setting up of Solar Power plants to pump water for irrigation purpose.
- Roof top Solar system :-Government is encouraging installation of solar power systems particularly on rooftops all over the country including on railway stations and airports as well.
3)Components of Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment:-
There are four Commissions, five Public Sector Corporations and three Statutory bodies working under the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment
Commissions;
- National Commission for Scheduled Castes;
- National Commission for Safai Karamcharis;
- National Commission for Backward Classes;
- National Commission for Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes.
Corporations:
- National Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporation;
- National Safai Karamchari Finance and Development Corporation;
- National Backward Classes Finance and Development Corporation;
- National Handicapped Finance and Development Corporation;
- Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation of India
Other Statutory Bodies:
- Rehabilitation Council of India
- Office of the Chief Commission for Persons with Disabilities
- National Trust for the Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities.
4) National Tourism Policy:-
The Ministry of Tourism is currently in the process of formulating a National Tourism Policy 2015 with the aim of positioning India as a “Must Experience” and “Must Revisit” destination for global travellers, encouraging Indians to explore their own country and realising the potential of tourism as a major engine for economic growth, employment generation and poverty alleviation in a responsible framework.
Swadesh Darshan Scheme:-
Under the new Scheme Swadesh Darshan for Integrated Development of Tourist Circuits around Specific Themes,
It has 12 Thematic Circuits namely:-
- North-East India Circuit,
- Buddhist Circuit,
- Himalayan Circuit,
- Coastal Circuit,
- Krishna Circuit,
- Desert Circuit,
- Tribal Circui (Peren-Kohima-Wakha – Nagaland)
- Eco Circuit,
- Wildlife Circuit,
- Rural Circuit,
- Spiritual Circuit
- Ramayana Circuit
Apart from above mentioned circuits , few other circuits are in developmental stage such as Port Blair-Neil Havelock-Little Andaman (Andaman and Nicobar), Kashmir Circuit (Jammu and Kashmir), Nature Tourism Circuit (West Bengal), Braj-Agra Circuit (Uttar Pradesh), Gangtok (Sikkim).
Tourism in India:-
- Currently it contributes approx. 7% of our GDP
- Though India a great place to visit , yet we are yet to realize our true tourism potential.
- The vision of Govt of India is to have 1% share of total global tourism by 2016-17
As Mark Twain Puts it :-
“The only land that all men desire to see and having seen once, by even a glimpse , would not give that glimpse for all the shows of all the rest of globe combined “
5)Guidelines Governing Adoption of Children 2015:-
The main features of the ‘Guidelines Governing Adoption of Children 2015’ include: provisions for linking the orphan/abandoned/surrendered children of all Child Care Institutions (CCIs) to the adoption system, making the entire adoption process online, treating NRI Prospective Adoptive Parents (PAPs) at par with the domestic PAPs and reducing the timeframe for completion of Home Study Report of the PAPs from two months to one month.
The major objectives sought to be achieved through these Guidelines are: expanding adoption programme in the country and addressing delays in the adoption process with an IT enabled platform of Child Adoption Resource Information and Guidance System (CARINGS).
6)Highlights of Agriculture Census 2010-11
| Size-Group | Percentage of number of operational holdings to total | Percentage of area operated to total | |
| 1 | Marginal (below 1.00 ha.) | 67.10 | 22.50 |
| 2 | Small (1.00 – 2.00 ha.) | 17.91 | 22.08 |
| 3 | Semi-medium (2.00 – 4.00 ha.) | 10.04 | 23.63 |
| 4 | Medium (4.00 – 10.00 ha.) | 4.25 | 21.20 |
| 5 | Large (10.00 ha. & above) | 0.70 | 10.59 |
Importance- Majority of our farmers are Marginal approx . 67% , which makes then vulnerable to climatic variation as they mostly do subsistence agriculture.
7) Heart of Asia Conference is underway in Pakistan and Minister of External Affairs of India recently traveled to attend the conference .
Read more about Heart of Asia here :- http://upsctree.com/2015/11/09/09-nov-2015/
8) National Waterways Bill, 2015 :-
- Recently introduced in Lok Sabha
- Under Entry 24 of the Union List of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution, the central government can make laws on shipping and navigation on inland waterways which are classified as national waterways by Parliament by law.
- The bill proposes 106 national water ways
- Declaration of these National Waterways would enable IWAI to develop the feasible stretches for Shipping and Navigation. Financial approval of the competent authority for each waterway would be taken based on the outcome of the techno-economic feasibility studies etc. that are being undertaken by the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) currently.
- The Bill repeals the five Acts that declare the existing national waterways. These five national waterways are now covered under the Bill.
Inland Water Transport is considered as the most cost effective and economical mode of transport from the point of view of fuel efficiency. Development of waterways will enhance the industrial growth and tourism potential of the hinterland along the waterway. This will also provide an additional, cheaper and environment friendly mode of transportation throughout the country
National Waterway No-1
Comprehensive List:-
| National Water Way | Water bodies/Principal River | Origin -Destination |
| 1 | Ganga | Allahabad-Haldia |
| 2 | Brahmaputra River | Sadiya-Dhubri |
| 3 | Maliankara,Valiapanikan,Ashtamudi KayaI,Udyogmandal Canal | Kollam-Kottapuram Stretch of West Coast Canal |
| 4 | Godavari,Krishna, | Kakinada-Puducherry Stretch of Canals |
| 5 | Brahmani-Kharsua-Dhamra Rivers, East Coast Canal,Mahanadi delta rivers (Consisting of Hansua river, Nuna nala, Gobri nala, Kharnasi river and Mahanadi river) |
Talcher-Dhamra |
| 6 | Aai River | |
| 7 | Ajoy River | |
| 8 | Amba River | |
| 9 | Arunawati / Aran River | |
| 10 | Asi River | |
| 11 | AVM Canal | |
| 12 | Baitarni River | |
| 13 | Bakreswar / Mayurakshi River | |
| 14 | Barak River | |
| 15 | Beas River | |
| 16 | Beki River | |
| 17 | Betwa River | |
| 18 | Bharathappuzha River | |
| 19 | Bhavani River | |
| 20 | Bheema River | |
| 21 | Birupa / Badi Genguti / Brahmani River System | |
| 22 | Budha Balanga | |
| 23 | Chaliyar River | |
| 24 | Chambal River | |
| 25 | Chapora River | |
| 26 | Chenab River | |
| 27 | Cumberjua River | |
| 28 | Damodar River | |
| 29 | Dehang River | |
| 30 | Dhansiri / Chathe | |
| 31 | Dikhu River | |
| 32 | Doyans River | |
| 33 | DVC Canal | |
| 34 | Dwarekeswar River | |
| 35 | Dwarka River | |
| 36 | Gandak River | |
| 37 | Gangadhar River | |
| 38 | Ghaghra River | |
| 39 | Ghataprabha River | |
| 40 | Gomti River | |
| 41 | Ichamati River | |
| 42 | Indira Gandhi Canal | |
| 43 | Indus | |
| 44 | Jalangi | |
| 45 | Jhelum | |
| 46 | Kadalundy | |
| 47 | Kali | |
| 48 | Kallada | |
| 49 | Kalyan-Thane-Mumbai Waterway | |
| 50 | Karamnasa | |
| 51 | Kaveri/ Kollidam River | |
| 52 | Kherkai River | |
| 53 | Kopili River | |
| 54 | Korapuzha River | |
| 55 | Kosi River | |
| 56 | Krishna River | |
| 57 | Kumari River | |
| 58 | Lohit River | |
| 59 | Luni River | |
| 60 | Mahanadi River | |
| 61 | Mahananda River | |
| 62 | Mahi River | |
| 63 | Malaprabha River | |
| 64 | Mandovi River | |
| 65 | Manimala River | |
| 66 | Manimutharu River | |
| 67 | Manjara River | |
| 68 | Mapusa River | |
| 69 | Meenachil River | |
| 70 | Muvattupuzha River | |
| 71 | Nag River | |
| 72 | Narmada River | |
| 73 | Netravathi River | |
| 74 | Palar River | |
| 75 | Pamba River | |
| 76 | Pazhyar River | |
| 77 | Pengang / Wardha River | |
| 78 | Pennar River | |
| 79 | Punpun River | |
| 80 | Puthimari River | |
| 81 | Ravi River | |
| 82 | Rupnarayan River | |
| 83 | Sabarmati River | |
| 84 | Sal River | |
| 85 | Savitri River | |
| 86 | Shastri River/Jaigad | |
| 87 | Silabati River | |
| 88 | Sone River | |
| 89 | Subansiri River | |
| 90 | Subarnrekha River | |
| 91 | Sunderbans Waterway | |
| 92 | Sutlej River | |
| 93 | Tamaraparani River | |
| 94 | Tapi River | |
| 95 | Tizu and Zungki Rivers | |
| 96 | Tlwang (Dhaleswari River) | |
| 97 | Tons River | |
| 98 | Tungabhadra River | |
| 99 | Ulhas River | |
| 100 | Vaigai River | |
| 101 | Valpattnam River | |
| 102 | Varuna River | |
| 103 | Wainganga / Pranahita River | |
| 104 | West Coast Canal | |
| 105 | Yamuna River | |
| 106 | Zuari |
Note :- Not all rivers are important but UPSC known to ask about rivers , hence knowledge of river and respective state is important. Go through the list and find out about rivers that are new to you.
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Petrol in India is cheaper than in countries like Hong Kong, Germany and the UK but costlier than in China, Brazil, Japan, the US, Russia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, a Bank of Baroda Economics Research report showed.
Rising fuel prices in India have led to considerable debate on which government, state or central, should be lowering their taxes to keep prices under control.
The rise in fuel prices is mainly due to the global price of crude oil (raw material for making petrol and diesel) going up. Further, a stronger dollar has added to the cost of crude oil.
Amongst comparable countries (per capita wise), prices in India are higher than those in Vietnam, Kenya, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Venezuela. Countries that are major oil producers have much lower prices.
In the report, the Philippines has a comparable petrol price but has a per capita income higher than India by over 50 per cent.
Countries which have a lower per capita income like Kenya, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Venezuela have much lower prices of petrol and hence are impacted less than India.
“Therefore there is still a strong case for the government to consider lowering the taxes on fuel to protect the interest of the people,” the report argued.
India is the world’s third-biggest oil consuming and importing nation. It imports 85 per cent of its oil needs and so prices retail fuel at import parity rates.
With the global surge in energy prices, the cost of producing petrol, diesel and other petroleum products also went up for oil companies in India.
They raised petrol and diesel prices by Rs 10 a litre in just over a fortnight beginning March 22 but hit a pause button soon after as the move faced criticism and the opposition parties asked the government to cut taxes instead.
India imports most of its oil from a group of countries called the ‘OPEC +’ (i.e, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Russia, etc), which produces 40% of the world’s crude oil.
As they have the power to dictate fuel supply and prices, their decision of limiting the global supply reduces supply in India, thus raising prices
The government charges about 167% tax (excise) on petrol and 129% on diesel as compared to US (20%), UK (62%), Italy and Germany (65%).
The abominable excise duty is 2/3rd of the cost, and the base price, dealer commission and freight form the rest.
Here is an approximate break-up (in Rs):
a)Base Price | 39 |
b)Freight | 0.34 |
c) Price Charged to Dealers = (a+b) | 39.34 |
d) Excise Duty | 40.17 |
e) Dealer Commission | 4.68 |
f) VAT | 25.35 |
g) Retail Selling Price | 109.54 |
Looked closely, much of the cost of petrol and diesel is due to higher tax rate by govt, specifically excise duty.
So the question is why government is not reducing the prices ?
India, being a developing country, it does require gigantic amount of funding for its infrastructure projects as well as welfare schemes.
However, we as a society is yet to be tax-compliant. Many people evade the direct tax and that’s the reason why govt’s hands are tied. Govt. needs the money to fund various programs and at the same time it is not generating enough revenue from direct taxes.
That’s the reason why, govt is bumping up its revenue through higher indirect taxes such as GST or excise duty as in the case of petrol and diesel.
Direct taxes are progressive as it taxes according to an individuals’ income however indirect tax such as excise duty or GST are regressive in the sense that the poorest of the poor and richest of the rich have to pay the same amount.
Does not matter, if you are an auto-driver or owner of a Mercedes, end of the day both pay the same price for petrol/diesel-that’s why it is regressive in nature.
But unlike direct tax where tax evasion is rampant, indirect tax can not be evaded due to their very nature and as long as huge no of Indians keep evading direct taxes, indirect tax such as excise duty will be difficult for the govt to reduce, because it may reduce the revenue and hamper may programs of the govt.
Globally, around 80% of wastewater flows back into the ecosystem without being treated or reused, according to the United Nations.
This can pose a significant environmental and health threat.
In the absence of cost-effective, sustainable, disruptive water management solutions, about 70% of sewage is discharged untreated into India’s water bodies.
A staggering 21% of diseases are caused by contaminated water in India, according to the World Bank, and one in five children die before their fifth birthday because of poor sanitation and hygiene conditions, according to Startup India.
As we confront these public health challenges emerging out of environmental concerns, expanding the scope of public health/environmental engineering science becomes pivotal.
For India to achieve its sustainable development goals of clean water and sanitation and to address the growing demands for water consumption and preservation of both surface water bodies and groundwater resources, it is essential to find and implement innovative ways of treating wastewater.
It is in this context why the specialised cadre of public health engineers, also known as sanitation engineers or environmental engineers, is best suited to provide the growing urban and rural water supply and to manage solid waste and wastewater.
Traditionally, engineering and public health have been understood as different fields.
Currently in India, civil engineering incorporates a course or two on environmental engineering for students to learn about wastewater management as a part of their pre-service and in-service training.
Most often, civil engineers do not have adequate skills to address public health problems. And public health professionals do not have adequate engineering skills.
India aims to supply 55 litres of water per person per day by 2024 under its Jal Jeevan Mission to install functional household tap connections.
The goal of reaching every rural household with functional tap water can be achieved in a sustainable and resilient manner only if the cadre of public health engineers is expanded and strengthened.
In India, public health engineering is executed by the Public Works Department or by health officials.
This differs from international trends. To manage a wastewater treatment plant in Europe, for example, a candidate must specialise in wastewater engineering.
Furthermore, public health engineering should be developed as an interdisciplinary field. Engineers can significantly contribute to public health in defining what is possible, identifying limitations, and shaping workable solutions with a problem-solving approach.
Similarly, public health professionals can contribute to engineering through well-researched understanding of health issues, measured risks and how course correction can be initiated.
Once both meet, a public health engineer can identify a health risk, work on developing concrete solutions such as new health and safety practices or specialised equipment, in order to correct the safety concern..
There is no doubt that the majority of diseases are water-related, transmitted through consumption of contaminated water, vectors breeding in stagnated water, or lack of adequate quantity of good quality water for proper personal hygiene.
Diseases cannot be contained unless we provide good quality and adequate quantity of water. Most of the world’s diseases can be prevented by considering this.
Training our young minds towards creating sustainable water management systems would be the first step.
Currently, institutions like the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) are considering initiating public health engineering as a separate discipline.
To leverage this opportunity even further, India needs to scale up in the same direction.
Consider this hypothetical situation: Rajalakshmi, from a remote Karnataka village spots a business opportunity.
She knows that flowers, discarded in the thousands by temples can be handcrafted into incense sticks.
She wants to find a market for the product and hopefully, employ some people to help her. Soon enough though, she discovers that starting a business is a herculean task for a person like her.
There is a laborious process of rules and regulations to go through, bribes to pay on the way and no actual means to transport her product to its market.
After making her first batch of agarbathis and taking it to Bengaluru by bus, she decides the venture is not easy and gives up.
On the flipside of this is a young entrepreneur in Bengaluru. Let’s call him Deepak. He wants to start an internet-based business selling sustainably made agarbathis.
He has no trouble getting investors and to mobilise supply chains. His paperwork is over in a matter of days and his business is set up quickly and ready to grow.
Never mind that the business is built on aggregation of small sellers who will not see half the profit .
Is this scenario really all that hypothetical or emblematic of how we think about entrepreneurship in India?
Between our national obsession with unicorns on one side and glorifying the person running a pakora stall for survival as an example of viable entrepreneurship on the other, is the middle ground in entrepreneurship—a space that should have seen millions of thriving small and medium businesses, but remains so sparsely occupied that you could almost miss it.
If we are to achieve meaningful economic growth in our country, we need to incorporate, in our national conversation on entrepreneurship, ways of addressing the missing middle.
Spread out across India’s small towns and cities, this is a class of entrepreneurs that have been hit by a triple wave over the last five years, buffeted first by the inadvertent fallout of demonetization, being unprepared for GST, and then by the endless pain of the covid-19 pandemic.
As we finally appear to be reaching some level of normality, now is the opportune time to identify the kind of industries that make up this layer, the opportunities they should be afforded, and the best ways to scale up their functioning in the shortest time frame.
But, why pay so much attention to these industries when we should be celebrating, as we do, our booming startup space?
It is indeed true that India has the third largest number of unicorns in the world now, adding 42 in 2021 alone. Braving all the disruptions of the pandemic, it was a year in which Indian startups raised $24.1 billion in equity investments, according to a NASSCOM-Zinnov report last year.
However, this is a story of lopsided growth.
The cities of Bengaluru, Delhi/NCR, and Mumbai together claim three-fourths of these startup deals while emerging hubs like Ahmedabad, Coimbatore, and Jaipur account for the rest.
This leap in the startup space has created 6.6 lakh direct jobs and a few million indirect jobs. Is that good enough for a country that sends 12 million fresh graduates to its workforce every year?
It doesn’t even make a dent on arguably our biggest unemployment in recent history—in April 2020 when the country shutdown to battle covid-19.
Technology-intensive start-ups are constrained in their ability to create jobs—and hybrid work models and artificial intelligence (AI) have further accelerated unemployment.
What we need to focus on, therefore, is the labour-intensive micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME). Here, we begin to get to a definitional notion of what we called the mundane middle and the problems it currently faces.
India has an estimated 63 million enterprises. But, out of 100 companies, 95 are micro enterprises—employing less than five people, four are small to medium and barely one is large.
The questions to ask are: why are Indian MSMEs failing to grow from micro to small and medium and then be spurred on to make the leap into large companies?
At the Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME), we have advocated for a National Mission for Mass Entrepreneurship, the need for which is more pronounced now than ever before.
Whenever India has worked to achieve a significant economic milestone in a limited span of time, it has worked best in mission mode. Think of the Green Revolution or Operation Flood.
From across various states, there are enough examples of approaches that work to catalyse mass entrepreneurship.
The introduction of entrepreneurship mindset curriculum (EMC) in schools through alliance mode of working by a number of agencies has shown significant improvement in academic and life outcomes.
Through creative teaching methods, students are encouraged to inculcate 21st century skills like creativity, problem solving, critical thinking and leadership which are not only foundational for entrepreneurship but essential to thrive in our complex world.
Udhyam Learning Foundation has been involved with the Government of Delhi since 2018 to help young people across over 1,000 schools to develop an entrepreneurial mindset.
One pilot programme introduced the concept of ‘seed money’ and saw 41 students turn their ideas into profit-making ventures. Other programmes teach qualities like grit and resourcefulness.
If you think these are isolated examples, consider some larger data trends.
The Observer Research Foundation and The World Economic Forum released the Young India and Work: A Survey of Youth Aspirations in 2018.
When asked which type of work arrangement they prefer, 49% of the youth surveyed said they prefer a job in the public sector.
However, 38% selected self-employment as an entrepreneur as their ideal type of job. The spirit of entrepreneurship is latent and waiting to be unleashed.
The same can be said for building networks of successful women entrepreneurs—so crucial when the participation of women in the Indian economy has declined to an abysmal 20%.
The majority of India’s 63 million firms are informal —fewer than 20% are registered for GST.
Research shows that companies that start out as formal enterprises become two-three times more productive than a similar informal business.
So why do firms prefer to be informal? In most cases, it’s because of the sheer cost and difficulty of complying with the different regulations.
We have academia and non-profits working as ecosystem enablers providing insights and evidence-based models for growth. We have large private corporations and philanthropic and funding agencies ready to invest.
It should be in the scope of a National Mass Entrepreneurship Mission to bring all of them together to work in mission mode so that the gap between thought leadership and action can finally be bridged.
Heat wave is a condition of air temperature which becomes fatal to human body when exposed. Often times, it is defined based on the temperature thresholds over a region in terms of actual temperature or its departure from normal.
Heat wave is considered if maximum temperature of a station reaches at least 400C or more for Plains and at least 300C or more for Hilly regions.
a) Based on Departure from Normal
Heat Wave: Departure from normal is 4.50C to 6.40C
Severe Heat Wave: Departure from normal is >6.40C
b) Based on Actual Maximum Temperature
Heat Wave: When actual maximum temperature ≥ 450C
Severe Heat Wave: When actual maximum temperature ≥470C
If above criteria met at least in 2 stations in a Meteorological sub-division for at least two consecutive days and it declared on the second day
It is occurring mainly during March to June and in some rare cases even in July. The peak month of the heat wave over India is May.
Heat wave generally occurs over plains of northwest India, Central, East & north Peninsular India during March to June.
It covers Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, parts of Maharashtra & Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telengana.
Sometimes it occurs over Tamilnadu & Kerala also.
Heat waves adversely affect human and animal lives.
However, maximum temperatures more than 45°C observed mainly over Rajasthan and Vidarbha region in month of May.
a. Transportation / Prevalence of hot dry air over a region (There should be a region of warm dry air and appropriate flow pattern for transporting hot air over the region).
b. Absence of moisture in the upper atmosphere (As the presence of moisture restricts the temperature rise).
c. The sky should be practically cloudless (To allow maximum insulation over the region).
d. Large amplitude anti-cyclonic flow over the area.
Heat waves generally develop over Northwest India and spread gradually eastwards & southwards but not westwards (since the prevailing winds during the season are westerly to northwesterly).
The health impacts of Heat Waves typically involve dehydration, heat cramps, heat exhaustion and/or heat stroke. The signs and symptoms are as follows:
1. Heat Cramps: Ederna (swelling) and Syncope (Fainting) generally accompanied by fever below 39*C i.e.102*F.
2. Heat Exhaustion: Fatigue, weakness, dizziness, headache, nausea, vomiting, muscle cramps and sweating.
3. Heat Stoke: Body temperatures of 40*C i.e. 104*F or more along with delirium, seizures or coma. This is a potential fatal condition.