Weather vagaries may cost 2.8 per cent GDP

Hyderabad: A study done by the World Bank, has found that rising temperatures and changing monsoon rainfall patterns could cost India 2.8 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product and depress the living standards of nearly half the country’s population by 2050.

The report pointed that out by the year 2050 Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh are predicted to be the top two climate hotspot states and are likely to experience a decline of more than 9 per cent in their living standards, followed by Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra.

Seven out of the top 10 hotspot districts will belong to Vidarbha in Maharashtra. India along with its neighbouring countries are in the vulnerable belt and are likely to suffer from declining living standards which cna be seen in falling agricultural yields, lower labour productivity or related health impacts.

“The result of weather changing patterns will be low capital consumption levels, resulting in an increase in poverty and inequality in South Asian countries,” said report author Muthukumara Mani, a lead economist in the South Asia Region of the World Bank.

The report said India’s average annual temperature was expected to rise by 1°C to 2°C by 2050. Approximately 600 million people live in locations that could either become moderate or severe hotspots by 2050.

Central, northern and north-western parts of India were most vulnerable to changes in average temperature and precipitation.