Drought is a deficiency in precipitation for a season or more, resulting in water shortage. Droughts may be meteorological, agricultural or hydrological. Depletion of tree cover can combine with scanty rains to increase the magnitude of a drought.

In the last few decades, there has been an increasing incidence of high-humidity heat waves. Human-induced climate change has been proved to be the major factor behind the increased frequency and severity of heat waves all over the world.

As India braces itself for another cold wave this winter, its dynamics are explored in a brief treatise. The cloudiness, fog, precipitation and more are decoded for quick understanding and greater preparedness.

A hailstorm is a thunderstorm that produces ice as precipitation. Hailstorms can cause serious damage to crops and property. In India, hailstorms mostly affect the northeast and western Himalayas, with the maximum strikes in March and April.

Madhavan Nair Rajeevan, the Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, spoke with Sulagna Chattopadhay from within the precincts of his new office, providing an excellent overview of a possible link between increased extreme events and climate change.

Thunderstorms are localised phenomena that can cause substantial damage. These are classified into the ordinary or single-cell, long-lasting multiple-cell or violent super-cell ones. In India, the pre-monsoon season is when most thunderstorms occur.

Mapping India’s infrastructure growth, in an interview with G’nY, the affable Union Minister for Shipping, Nitin Gadkari, shows a dream that can decongest most of India’s roads and provide a huge fillip to India’s industry through all round development of waterways.

Rajive Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of Shipping speaking with Editor, G’nY, highlighted the government’s initiatives in developing inland waterways and flagged the need for its integration with the coastal shipping for facilitating a vibrant transport system in the country.

The lack of capacity—from research to operation personnel and private entrepreneurship, is adversely affecting the growth of inland waterways.

In the last few decades, there has been a tremendous overexploitation of India’s groundwater resources, particularly in the Punjab-Haryana region, due to cheap and easy groundwater pumping and drilling technologies accompanied by decision distorting energy subsidies.