Discovery of the phenomena of monsoon
A Greek text, Periplus of the Erythreaeansea, which describes navigation and trading opportunities, talks about seasonal winds bringing navigators to safety. The writer of this text credits Hippalus with the discovery of these winds and its route across the Arabian Sea to India, around 1 Century BCE.
Who coined the word Monsoon?
The word ‘Monsoon’ is derived from Arabic word ‘Mausim’, meaning seasonal winds. The famous Arab scholar, a world-traveller and a prolific writer, Al- Masudi coined the term Monsoon and gave a good account of these periodic winds of the Herkend (Bay of Bengal). Interestingly Al-Masudi also remarks about using these winds as a source of energy.
Photo Courtesy : Indian Metrological Department
Indian Monsoon mechanisms
Monsoon winds are in reality southeast trade winds, which dramatically shifts in summer due to apparent movement of sun towards the northern hemisphere. The dramatic large-scale direction change results in southwest winds and the monsoon. Some of the salient factors that propel the Indian monsoon are listed below.
- Differential heating and cooling of land and water: This creates low pressure on the Indian landmass while seas around experience comparatively high pressure. As we know, winds move from high-pressure areas to low-pressure areas. This initiates the whole process of Indian monsoon
- Shift in position of Inter tropical convergence zone (ITCZ): In summer due to apparent movement of sun, ITCZ which is a equatorial trough, normally positioned about 5 degrees N&S of the equator, shifts towards the north, over the Ganga Plain. This puts in place the monsoon trough that initiates the monsoonal circulation.
- Presence of high pressure region in the east of Madagascar: The intensity and position of this high pressure area plays crucial role in initiating the monsoonal circulation.
- Intense heating of Tibetan plateau during summer: Tibetan plateau gets intensely heated during summer, which results in vertical air currents and formation of a high-pressure region over the plateau at about 9 km above the sea level.
- Movement of Westerly Jet Stream to the north of Himalaya: The sub-tropical Westerly Jet Stream, the high-level intense winds, moves to the north of the Himalaya in the summer, leaves a vacuum for southwesterly winds on the surface to complete the wind circulation.
- Southern Oscillation: Changes in pressure conditions over the Southern Ocean also affect the Indian monsoon. Normally, when the tropical western South Pacific Ocean experiences high-pressure, the Tropical Eastern Indian Ocean experiences low pressure. However, in certain years, there is reversal in pressure conditions and the Eastern Pacific region has lower pressure in comparison to East Indian Ocean. This periodic change in pressure condition is known as Southern Oscillation.
- El-Nino: This is a warm current that flows past Peruvian coast in place of the usual cold Peruvian current. The phenomenon occurs every 2 to 5 years. Hence change in pressure conditions is connected to El-Nino and whole phenomenon of El Niño–Southern Oscillation is referred as ENSO.
Timing of Indian Monsoon – how much punctual is it?
An important feature of Indian monsoon is its timing. It comes without a fail every year and strikes the country on nearly same time i.e. June 1.
The first beneficiaries of Indian Monsoon
Kerala is the privileged state, and it experiences the first showers of the monsoon. Monsoon then divides into two branches namely Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal and approaches the main land mass of India.
Indian Monsoon is not an Indian phenomenon only
Monsoon is not restricted to India only. It affects the weather of the entire Indian sub-continent, and Oceana, which comprise Australia and New Zealand. There is also the North American monsoon, which happens once a year, usually in the middle of summer.
Endnote:
India’s monsoon saga plays out every year. This year, intense summer has been predicted by the India Meteorological Department, and India hopes for a bountiful monsoon.
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[wptelegram-join-channel link=”https://t.me/s/upsctree” text=”Join @upsctree on Telegram”]2021 WEF Global Gender Gap report, which confirmed its 2016 finding of a decline in worldwide progress towards gender parity.
Over 2.8 billion women are legally restricted from having the same choice of jobs as men. As many as 104 countries still have laws preventing women from working in specific jobs, 59 countries have no laws on sexual harassment in the workplace, and it is astonishing that a handful of countries still allow husbands to legally stop their wives from working.
Globally, women’s participation in the labour force is estimated at 63% (as against 94% of men who participate), but India’s is at a dismal 25% or so currently. Most women are in informal and vulnerable employment—domestic help, agriculture, etc—and are always paid less than men.
Recent reports from Assam suggest that women workers in plantations are paid much less than men and never promoted to supervisory roles. The gender wage gap is about 24% globally, and women have lost far more jobs than men during lockdowns.
The problem of gender disparity is compounded by hurdles put up by governments, society and businesses: unequal access to social security schemes, banking services, education, digital services and so on, even as a glass ceiling has kept leadership roles out of women’s reach.
Yes, many governments and businesses had been working on parity before the pandemic struck. But the global gender gap, defined by differences reflected in the social, political, intellectual, cultural and economic attainments or attitudes of men and women, will not narrow in the near future without all major stakeholders working together on a clear agenda—that of economic growth by inclusion.
The WEF report estimates 135 years to close the gap at our current rate of progress based on four pillars: educational attainment, health, economic participation and political empowerment.
India has slipped from rank 112 to 140 in a single year, confirming how hard women were hit by the pandemic. Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two Asian countries that fared worse.
Here are a few things we must do:
One, frame policies for equal-opportunity employment. Use technology and artificial intelligence to eliminate biases of gender, caste, etc, and select candidates at all levels on merit. Numerous surveys indicate that women in general have a better chance of landing jobs if their gender is not known to recruiters.
Two, foster a culture of gender sensitivity. Take a review of current policies and move from gender-neutral to gender-sensitive. Encourage and insist on diversity and inclusion at all levels, and promote more women internally to leadership roles. Demolish silos to let women grab potential opportunities in hitherto male-dominant roles. Work-from-home has taught us how efficiently women can manage flex-timings and productivity.
Three, deploy corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds for the education and skilling of women and girls at the bottom of the pyramid. CSR allocations to toilet building, the PM-Cares fund and firms’ own trusts could be re-channelled for this.
Four, get more women into research and development (R&D) roles. A study of over 4,000 companies found that more women in R&D jobs resulted in radical innovation. It appears women score far higher than men in championing change. If you seek growth from affordable products and services for low-income groups, women often have the best ideas.
Five, break barriers to allow progress. Cultural and structural issues must be fixed. Unconscious biases and discrimination are rampant even in highly-esteemed organizations. Establish fair and transparent human resource policies.
Six, get involved in local communities to engage them. As Michael Porter said, it is not possible for businesses to sustain long-term shareholder value without ensuring the welfare of the communities they exist in. It is in the best interest of enterprises to engage with local communities to understand and work towards lowering cultural and other barriers in society. It will also help connect with potential customers, employees and special interest groups driving the gender-equity agenda and achieve better diversity.