Low-pressure area in Bay of Bengal good for monsoon's progress

Thursday evening report of the IMD confirmed that the outer line of monsoon had reached across Kannur in Karnataka and Madurai in Tamil Nadu.

Indication of a low-pressure area developing in the Bay of Bengal is a good news for the advancement of monsoon, a senior official of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Thursday.

Thursday evening report of the IMD confirmed that the outer line of monsoon had reached across Kannur in Karnataka and Madurai in Tamil Nadu.

Cyclone Vayu had slowed down monsoon’s progress, the IMD had said earlier

“A couple of days back, we were solely dependent on Vayu getting weakened as it had pulled all the required winds and slowed down the southwest monsoon’s progress in the country,” the official said, requesting anonymity.

“Today, we noticed indication of a low-pressure area getting developed in the Bay of Bengal, which always helps in the advancement of southwest monsoon towards northern part,” he told PTI.

“Generally, by this date southwest monsoon is supposed to arrive in Maharashtra, but it is still far away. Earlier observations had indicated that Vayu would take a couple of more days to weaken which will make way for monsoon to move northwards,” the official said.

“With signs of low-pressure area getting developed in the Bay of Bengal, whatever develops there is certainly going to benefit the advancement of southwest monsoon over the country and it can bring showers,” the IMD official predicted.

Business Standard

Karnataka to West Bengal: How climate change is ravaging India's coastline

West Bengal has lost 99 sq km of land in the past 26 years, making up 63% of the state's coastline and equivalent to the area occupied by 18,500 football fields.

Business Standard : First, in 2011, the sea took away some of their land. Three years later, the waves demolished a section of their home. That is when Budhwant Karvi, 40, knew it was time to move but his elderly parents refused.

“They said we have lived here for generations and will continue to do so,” said Karvi, a worker on a fishing trawler that sails the Arabian sea.

Karvi’s home is in Pavinakurve, a village along the scenic Honnavar coast with blue waters reflecting the sky in Western Karnataka. The view from the home was once a narrow strip of sandy beach and the vast Arabian sea. On the right is the island of Basavaraj Durga, a popular tourist destination.

The view from Pavinakurve and the island of Basavaraj Durga in northwestern Karnataka. The sandy beaches of Pavinarkurve are being steadily eroded.

Seven years ago, the waves began to crash against the walls of Karvi’s home made of red, large bricks. “At times the waves would completely wash over our home and leave behind plastic bottles that were discarded in the sea by people,” Karvi said, pointing to the waste bottles on the land. Soon the sandy strip of the beach went under water. Then one by one the sea swallowed six guntas (1/7th of an acre) of the land the family owned, roughly six times the size of an average two-bedroom flat.

Millions living on India’s coasts are threatened as India has lost 33% of its coastline to erosion in 26 years between 1990 and 2006, according to a report released in July 2018 by the National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR) in Chennai, which is mapping changes to India’s shoreline, and is affiliated to the Ministry of Earth Sciences.

This is the second story in our series on how climate change is disrupting people’s lives (you can read the first part here). The series combines ground reporting from India’s climate change hotspots with the latest scientific research.

India has a coastline of 7,500 km--nearly three-and-a-half times the distance between Ahmedabad and Kolkata--divided almost equally on the east and the west of the country. Along it are nine states, two union territories (UT) and two island territories. Of the country’s 1.28 billion people, 560 million, or 43%, live within these coastal territories.

Of the coastline that is eroding, 40% is in four states/UTs alone. West Bengal has lost 99 sq km of land in the past 26 years, making up 63% of the state’s coastline and equivalent to the area occupied by 18,500 football fields. Puducherry has lost 57% of its coastline, Kerala 45%, and Tamil Nadu 41%, to heavy erosion.

India’s coasts are under attack both from man-made activities--such as growing construction, damming of rivers, sand mining and destruction of mangroves--as well as natural causes linked to climate change such as rising sea levels, according to the report... Read More

Karnataka won't be divided during my or son's lifetime: Deve Gowda

Gowda's remarks came on a day the Uttara Karnataka Pratyeka Rajya Horata Samiti, a committee fighting for a separate statehood to north Karnataka, called a day-long bandh in 13 districts.

Opposing any move to divide Karnataka, former prime minister and JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda on Thursday appealed to the people of north Karnataka not to get provoked by the BJP, and said the demand for a separate statehood for the region will not be met during his or his son and Chief Minister H D Kumarswamy's lifetime.

Gowda's remarks came on a day the Uttara Karnataka Pratyeka Rajya Horata Samiti, a committee fighting for a separate statehood to north Karnataka, called a day-long bandh in 13 districts.

"No injustice has been meted out to north Karnataka in allotment of funds in the state budget," he said and hit out at BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa for trying to create unrest through "malicious propaganda".

"The provocation made by Yeddyurappa will not come true. We will take care of it... If some people demand a separate north Karnataka, I want to tell them it will not happen, not during my lifetime and not during my son's lifetime," he told PTI in an interview.

He alleged that the BJP state president is "provoking" people of north Karnataka, as his "anger has not cooled down" after failing to form the government despite winning substantial seats.

Gowda further alleged that the former chief minister has started "intimidating" people on the farm loan waiver, state budget and other issues, with the sole motive to create unrest.

The former prime minister said many leaders have made sacrifices for the unification of the state and appealed to people not fall prey to provocation and to "trust the current government".

Kumaraswamy has already ordered the shifting of some key government departments to the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha, the secretariat building in Belagavi, Gowda added.

The Samiti gave the bandh call to press for statehood for the region, alleging that successive governments discriminated against it.

The Samiti leaders have also alleged discrimination in the allocation towards the region in the budget presented by Kumaraswamy on July 5 and also inadequate representation in the cabinet.

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