Climate change has led to increased temperatures, sea level rise, increased natural hazards, etc. Glaciers are the very sensitive to climate change and its affects can be seen in glaciated zones around the globe.
Himalaya has huge repositories of glaciers that are reportedly retreating leading to glacier thinning. This glacier thinning due to melting has resulted in the development of new glacial lakes and the magnification of existing ones due to the accumulation of meltwater behind loosely consolidated end moraine dams that had formed from debris left out by glaciers while retreating. These moraine dammed glacial lakes are potential source of catastrophic disaster as they are inherently unstable (ICMOD, 2011; UNDP, 2013).
Fast melting of glacier or an extreme weather event such as heavy rainfall can easily trigger these glacial lakes to burst and can cause damage to vulnerable people and property living downstream in the valleys.
The flash flood due to sudden burst of a glacial lake produce the violent flow of water and associated debris and is known as a Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF). Lake Outburst and debris flow disaster in Kedarnath, Uttarakhand in June 2013 was one the destructive disaster occurred in Himalaya and still various potential disastrous lakes exists and are developing in this region (Allen et al, 2015).
Glaciers work as a water tower, sustaining the lives of millions downstream. The volumes of these glaciers vary – remaining sensitive to global temperature conditions. The glaciers have embedded within it many lakes which follow a seasonal pattern of freeze and thaw. With continuing warming trends, many glaciers are melting rapidly, giving birth to a large number of glacial lakes. These ‘moraine dammed’ lakes are comparatively feeble and its unexpected outburst is a threat to life, asset and infrastructure, downstream.
Glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) are related to global warming. As the temperatures in the Himalaya soar, the glaciers retreat during the summer, leaving behind water filled, moraine dammed, precarious lakes holding huge amounts of water in a very unstable geomorphology.
GLOFs have been known to occur in different parts of the world. In 1941, an outburst flood destroyed the city of Huaraz in Peru killing 4,500 people. Outbursts from a glacier-dammed lake in the Swiss Alps in 1968 and 1970 triggered debris flow and caused heavy damage to the village of Saas Balen.
In the Himalayan realms, with its greatest concentration of glaciers outside of the poles, such an event would assume catastrophic proportions with urban inroads in higher altitudes, ever-expanding infrastructure and poor to non-existent integrated water management systems as opined in a paper by P Mukhopadhyay, 2011, titled ‘GLOF- A Threat Present and Real: Indian Summary’.
According to the IPCC, 2001 assessments, the rising global mean temperatures by 2100 from 1.4° to 5.8°C, depending on the climate model and greenhouse gases emission scenario, would mean that up to a quarter of the global mountain glacier mass can disappear by 2050 and up to half could be lost by 2100 (IPCC, 1996). GLOF threats to the Indian Subcontinent: The Himalaya, ‘third pole’ of the earth, comprises one of the largest collections of glaciers and the threat is real.
Glacial lake monitoring and preparedness for disaster risk reduction are the prime most need of these fragile regions now. Glacial lake are needed to be mapped and monitored to recognize the GLOF risks associated with them. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) among many other organisations working in the area, has also taken the responsibility and has been engaged in glacial lake monitoring and water bodies in the Himalayan region of Indian River Basins.
ISRO has increased its capabilities to show the potential of satellite remote sensing to monitor the glacial lake and water bodies. High resolution data such as Cartosat-2 Panchromatic, Resourcesat – 2 LISS VI multispectral and RISAT-1 SAR Radar images was used to monitor regularly two lakes – Lhonak lake and Pareechu lake during 2013 to 2015.
Also, glacial lake monitoring and water bodies with water spread area more than 50 hectare for on monthly basis for June to October for 5 years (2011-2015) has been performed.
Inventory of glacial lake and water bodies with water spread area more than 10 hectare has been prepared. According to inventory there are total of 2026 glacial lakes and water bodies in Indian River basin of Himalaya out of which 503 are glacial lakes. It has been found that about 1600 glacial lakes and water bodies have water spread area between 10 and 50 hectare and about 200 water bodies have between 50 and 100 hectare.
Relation between elevation and water spread area
A comparison with elevation has revealed that more than 50 per cent i.e. about 1167 glacial lakes and water bodies are located within the elevation range of 4000 to 5000m. A basin wise inventory showed that Brahmaputra basin has most number of glacial lakes and water bodies i.e. 1391 followed by Indus (351) and Ganga basin (284). Brahmaputra Basin has 295 glacial lakes and 1096 water bodies whereas Ganga basin has 179 Glacial lakes and 105 water bodies. Least number of glacial lakes lies in the Indus basin.
ISRO has done remarkable work by inventorying the glacial lake monitoring and water bodies. They are also regularly monitoring and providing information on inventory and monthly changes through their Bhuvan and India-WRIS portal. All this together is very useful for identification of potentially dangerous lakes prone to GLOF and giving early warning to mitigate disasters. This monitoring is also helping in prioritizing of glacial lake monitoring for GLOF studies and climate change studies.
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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.