Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are among the regions in the country that are expected to be significantly affected by heat and have developed their own mitigation strategies, said Jitendra Singh, Union minister of state for science and technology & earth sciences, in the Lok Sabha.
According to a recent World Bank report, rising temperatures could cause India to lose up to 5 per cent of its GDP by 2030, the minister shared.
Heat is acknowledged as a serious threat and the State Disaster Management Agencies of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have developed state heat action plans in 2016 and 2019, respectively, to address heat stress, he noted.
Additionally, the state planning commission has established the heat action network to promote inter-departmental and inter-sectoral collaboration for heat mitigation, Singh added.
Drone surveys have been completed in 320,000 villages under the ‘Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas (SVAMITVA)’ scheme, as mentioned by SP Singh Baghel, Union minister of state for Panchayati Raj, to the Rajya Sabha.
Funds from the scheme are primarily allocated to the Survey of India for large-scale mapping using drones and establishing continuous operating reference stations in the participating states / Union Territories.
According to the available data on the average inhabited area per village, the estimated total area covered by these surveys is 68,122 square kilometres, Baghel added.
The Government of India, through an order dated November 10, 2017, has prohibited the destructive fishing practices, including the use of artificial lights / LED lights for fishing in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) beyond territorial waters. stated by George Kurian, Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, in the Rajya Sabha
Similarly, the Government of Maharashtra issued an order on April 27, 2018, banning the use of LED lights for fishing within Maharashtra's territorial waters.
The department of fisheries of the Government of Maharashtra has reported that nine drones (one for each of five districts and two each for Ratnagiri and Raigad districts) have been deployed across seven coastal districts of Maharashtra for surveillance, said Kurian.
The Government of Karnataka has also banned LED light fishing and has initiated actions against any fishing vessels engaged in LED fishing by confiscating the equipment and imposing penalties according to the Karnataka Marine Fishing Regulation Act, 1986.
Following approval from the Union Cabinet, the Department of Biotechnology has introduced the BioE3 (Biotechnology for Economy, Environment and Employment) Policy on August 24, 2024, aimed at ‘Fostering High-Performance Biomanufacturing’, Singh told Lok Sabha.
The policy’s goal is to establish a framework for high-performance biomanufacturing, accelerating the development and scaling up of sustainable bio-based products in the country.
This policy will be crucial in promoting ‘Green Growth’ and advancing the country’s bioeconomy by transforming India’s economy from a consumptive manufacturing model to one based on regenerative principles, the minister added.
The proportion of non-fossil power capacity in the overall power generation capacity in India has risen to 47.37 per cent as of February 28, 2025, from 32.5 per cent as of March 31, 2014, according to Shripad Yesso Naik, Union minister of state for New & Renewable Energy and Power, in his address to the Lok Sabha.
In response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement at COP26, the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy aims to reach 500 GW of installed electricity capacity from non-fossil sources by 2030.
As of February 28, 2025, the country has achieved a total installed renewable energy capacity of 214.68 GW. Further, around 175.89 GW of renewable energy projects are currently being developed and projects amounting to 70.21 GW have been tendered.
The Copernicus Climate Change Service report revealed that January 2025 experienced the highest global average surface air temperature ever recorded, being 0.79°C warmer than the 1991-2020 average, even with La Nina conditions developing, Singh mentioned in the Lok Sabha.
In India, the average temperature was the second highest since 1901, at 0.98°C above the 1991-2020 average, the minister noted. The main reason for these increased temperatures, he added, is global warming, which is directly linked to climate change. Global warming refers to the long-term increase in Earth's average surface temperature due to human activities, primarily the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas. This process releases greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, trapping heat and warming the planet.
Usually, during the La Nina years, the Indian summer monsoon receives above-average rainfall, benefiting crop production. However, a neutral El Nino-Southern Oscillation currently exists over the equatorial Pacific Ocean, with above-average sea surface temperatures (SST) in the eastern and far western Pacific Ocean and below-average SSTs in the central Pacific Ocean, the minister shared.
Bharat Coal Gasification and Chemicals Ltd, a joint venture between Coal India Ltd and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), was established on May 21, 2024 to undertake the coal to ammonium nitrate project in Lakhanpur, Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd, Odisha, according to G Kishan Reddy, Union Minister of Coal and Mines. The pre-project activities have been completed, he said.
The project incorporates gasification technology developed by BHEL to support the Government of India’s Make in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat Yojana initiatives, the minister noted. It is being implemented on a lump sum turnkey basis, he added.