As told to Parliament (November 18, 2019): Floods caused damage worth Rs 95,736 crore in 2018

India suffered a loss of Rs 95,736 crore in 2018 due to floods, Union Minister of State for Jal Shakti, Ratan Lal Kataria told the Rajya Sabha on November 18, 2019. This loss was 2.6 times more than the financial loss due to floods in 2017, the data presented by the minister showed.

Since the start of the Eleventh Plan, total Central Assistance released to the states under the flood management plan till March 2019 was Rs 5,864 crore, the minister said.

115,492 cases of illegal mining of major and minor minerals

In 2018-19, over 115,492 cases of illegal mining of minor and major minerals were detected in 15 states across India, Union Minister of Mines, Coal and Parliamentary Affairs told the Rajya Sabha. He also stated that 21 states had framed rules under Section 23C of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 to curb illegal mining.

Further, 22 state governments had constituted task forces to review the action taken by departments for checking illegal mining activities in their respective jurisdiction, Joshi said.

India’s preparedness to combat climatic change

Due to India’s proactive and sustained actions, the emission intensity of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) had reduced 21 per cent between 2005 and 2014, Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar told the Rajya Sabha.

He said India had submitted Nationally Determined Contributions or NDCs with targets, to reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 33-35 per cent by 2030 from the 2005 level; The country had achieved about 40 per cent cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel based energy resources by 2030, and created an additional carbon sink of 2.5-3 billion tonnes of CO2 eq through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.

He said the government was also implementing the scheme, ‘National Adaptation Fund for Climate Change’ to support adaptation measures of states / union territories in areas that were particularly vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change.  

PM2.5 in Delhi

Delhi recorded a 7.3 per cent reduction in PM2.5 levels in 2018 over 2017 and 14.8 per cent over 2016. The capital city also recorded an 8.6 per cent reduction in PM10 levels in 2018 over 2017 and 16.5 per cent over 2016, Prakash Javadekar told the Rajya Sabha.

Stubble burning in Haryana and Punjab 

A reduction of 53 and 58 per cent in the number of stubble burning events in Punjab and Haryana respectively had been observed till November 14, 2019, as compared to that in 2016, Babul Supriyo, Union Minister of State in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change told the Rajya Sabha.

In order to prevent stubble burning, a new central sector scheme on ‘Promotion of agricultural mechanisation for in-situ management of crop residue in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and NCT of Delhi’ from 2018-19 to 2019-20 was being implemented by the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, with the total outgo from Central funds being Rs 1,151.80 crore (Rs 591.65 crore in 2018-19 and Rs 560.15 crore in 2019-20).  

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