India lost $37 bn and over 2,000 people to extreme climate — yet there might be no change in India’s environment budget

• Environment may remain out of focus in Nirmala Sitharaman’s budget speech.
  
• In 2019, millions of people were affected across India after two extreme conditions — heavy floods and drought.
  

In 2019, millions of people were affected across India after two extreme conditions — heavy floods and drought. The series of extreme climatic events have disturbed lives in the entire nation.

Yet, those hoping for sweeping initiatives in the upcoming budget as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman might be disappointed. It is likely to allocate ₹3038.2 crore to the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, according to the medium term expenditure projection statement presented in Parliament in 2018. Last year, the government allocated ₹2,586 crore.

Environment Ministry Budget over the years

Approximate allocation to Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (₹crore)

	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21
Total	2675.42	2626.71	2675.42	2813.57	3038.2

The budget allocation to the environment ministry has increased over the years but marginally. However, it may not suffice the current requirement to fight climate change. Moreover the allocation to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has been stagnant for the past two years around ₹100 crore.

Climate change cost India over 2000 lives and $37 billion in just a year

India suffered an economic loss of $37 billion due to climate change in 2018, according to a Global Climate Risk Index 2020. That is an extremely high amount as it lost ($79.5 billion between 1998-2017. Over the past five years, India has always suffered one of the five highest economic losses because of climate change, says India spend.

Apart from economic losses, India also witnessed many deaths due to extreme weather conditions. In 2018 alone, the country reported 2,081 deaths due to cyclones, floods, landslides etc. Poverty, wide social gap are some reasons that make Indians most vulnerable to climate change. Experts believe the government is unlikely to make any significant changes in the current policies to fight the environment.

See also:
Health Budget 2020: After 963 children died in one hospital in the last year, Indians will be watching the Centre’s allocation to upgrade public healthcare