India directs ports, terminals and shipyards to increase security levels
NEW DELHI: India directed all ports, shipping terminals and shipyards to implement increased security measures, according to a government order issued on Thursday, amid heightened tensions with its neighbour Pakistan. (Reporting by Nidhi Verma, Writing by Surbhi Misra; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
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Khaleej Times
5 hours ago
- Khaleej Times
Climate change heightens risk of Indian farmer suicides
On a small farm in India's Maharashtra state, Mirabai Khindkar said the only thing her land grew was debt, after crops failed in drought and her husband killed himself. Farmer suicides have a long history in India, where many are one crop failure away from disaster, but extreme weather caused by climate change is adding fresh pressure. Dwindling yields due to water shortages, floods, rising temperatures and erratic rainfall, coupled with crippling debt, have taken a heavy toll on a sector that employs 45 per cent of India's 1.4 billion people. Mirabhai's husband Amol was left with debts to loan sharks worth hundreds of times their farm's annual income, after the three-acre (one-hectare) soybean, millet and cotton plot withered in scorching heat. He swallowed poison last year. "When he was in the hospital, I prayed to all the gods to save him," said 30-year-old Mirabai, her voice breaking. Amol died a week later, leaving behind Mirabai and three children. Her last conversation with him was about debt. Their personal tragedy is replicated daily across Marathwada, a region in Maharashtra of 18 million, once known for fertile farmland. Last year, extreme weather events across India affected 3.2 million hectares (7.9 million acres) of cropland -- an area bigger than Belgium — according to the New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment research group. Over 60 per cent of that was in Maharashtra. "Summers are extreme, and even if we do what is necessary, the yield is not enough," said Amol's brother and fellow farmer Balaji Khindkar. "There is not enough water to irrigate the fields. It doesn't rain properly." 'Increase the risks' Between 2022 and 2024, 3,090 farmers took their own lives in Marathwada, an average of nearly three a day, according to India's Minister of Agriculture Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Government statistics do not specify what drove the farmers to kill themselves, but analysts point to several likely factors. "Farmer suicides in India are a consequence of the crisis of incomes, investment and productivity that you have in agriculture," said R. Ramakumar, professor of development studies at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. Farming across many Indian smallholdings is done largely as it has been for centuries, and is highly dependent on the right weather at the correct time. "What climate change and its vulnerabilities and variabilities have done is to increase the risks in farming," Ramakumar said. This "is leading to crop failures, uncertainties... which is further weakening the economics of cultivation for small and marginal farmers." The government could support farmers with better insurance schemes to cope with extreme weather events, as well as investments in agricultural research, Ramakumar said. "Agriculture should not be a gamble with the monsoon." 'Make ends meet' Faced with uncertain weather, farmers often look to stem falling yields by investing in fertilisers or irrigation systems. But banks can be reluctant to offer credit to such uncertain borrowers. Some turn to loan sharks offering quick cash at exorbitant interest rates, and risking catastrophe if crops fail. "It is difficult to make ends meet with just farming," Mirabai said, standing outside her home, a tin-roofed hut with patch-cloth walls. Her husband's loans soared to over $8,000, a huge sum in India, where the average monthly income of a farming household is around $120. Mirabai works on other farms as a labourer but could not pay back the debt. "The loan instalments piled up," she said, adding that she wants her children to find jobs outside of farming when they grow up. "Nothing comes out of the farm." The agricultural industry has been in a persistent crisis for decades. And while Maharashtra has some of the highest suicide rates, the problem is nationwide. Thirty people in the farming sector killed themselves every day in 2022, according to national crime records bureau statistics. At another farm in Marathwada, 32-year-old farmer Shaikh Imran took over the running of the family smallholding last year after his brother took his own life. He is already more than $1,100 in debt after borrowing to plant soybean. The crop failed. Meanwhile, the pop of explosives echoes around as farmers blast wells, hoping to hit water. "There's no water to drink," said family matriarch Khatijabi. "Where shall we get water to irrigate the farm?"
Zawya
10 hours ago
- Zawya
India's $80bln coal-power boom is running short of water
CHANDRAPUR/SOLAPUR, India - April marks the start of the cruelest months for residents of Solapur, a hot and dry district in western India. As temperatures soar, water availability dwindles. In peak summer, the wait for taps to flow can stretch to a week or more. Just a decade ago, water flowed every other day, according to the local government and residents of Solapur, some 400 km inland from Mumbai. Then in 2017, a 1,320-megawatt coal-fired power plant run by state-controlled NTPC began operations. It provided the district with energy - and competed with residents and businesses for water from a reservoir that serves the area. Solapur illustrates the Catch-22 facing India, which has 17% of the planet's population but access to only 4% of its water resources. The world's most populous country plans to spend nearly $80 billion on water-hungry coal plants by 2031 to power growing industries like data center operations. The vast majority of these new projects are planned for India's driest areas, according to a power ministry document reviewed by Reuters, which is not public and was created for officials to track progress. Many of the 20 people interviewed by Reuters for this story, which included power company executives, energy officials and industry analysts, said the thermal expansion likely portended future conflict between industry and residents over limited water resources. Thirty-seven of the 44 new projects named in the undated power ministry shortlist of future operations are located in areas that the government classifies as either suffering from water scarcity or stress. NTPC, which says it draws 98.5% of its water from water-stressed areas, is involved in nine of them. NTPC said in response to Reuters' questions that it is "continuously striving towards conservation of water with best of our efforts in Solapur," including using methods like treating and reusing water. It did not answer queries about potential expansion plans. India's power ministry has told lawmakers in parliament, most recently in 2017, that the locations of coal-fired power plants are determined by factors including access to land and water and that state governments are responsible for allocating water to them. Access to land is the dominant consideration, two federal groundwater board officials and two water researchers told Reuters. India's complex and arcane land laws have delayed many commercial and infrastructure projects for years, so power operators under pressure to meet burgeoning demand pick areas where they are likely to face little resistance, said Rudrodip Majumdar, an energy and environment professor at the National Institute of Advanced Studies in Bengaluru. "They look for areas with easy land availability - minimum resistance for maximum land - even if water is available only far away," he said. The federal power ministry, as well as energy and water authorities in Maharashtra state, where Solapur is located, did not respond to queries. Delhi attempted to reduce its reliance on coal before reversing track after the COVID pandemic. It has invested heavily in renewable energy sources like solar and hydro, but thirsty thermal power will still be dominant for the coming decades. India's former top energy bureaucrat Ram Vinay Shahi said ready access to power was strategically important for the country, whose per-capita power consumption is far lower than its regional rival China. "The only energy resource we have in the country is coal," he said. "Between water and coal, preference is given to coal." 'NOTHING' IN SOLAPUR? Solapur resident Rajani Thoke plans her life around water in high summer. On days with supply, "I do not focus on anything other than storing water, washing clothes and such work," said the mother of two, who strictly polices her family's water use. Sushilkumar Shinde, the federal power minister who approved the Solapur plant in 2008, when the area had already been classified "water scarce," told Reuters he helped NTPC procure the land by negotiating payments to locals. The member of the opposition Congress party, who won election to retain Solapur's parliamentary seat a year after the plant's approval, defended the operation on grounds of NTPC's sizable investment. The $1.34 billion plant generated thousands of jobs during its construction and now provides part-time employment to about 2,500 locals. "I made sure farmers got good money for the land NTPC acquired," he said, adding that mismanagement by local authorities was to blame for water shortages. Solapur municipal official Sachin Ombase acknowledged that water distribution infrastructure had not kept up with population growth, but said that authorities were trying to address the problem. Shinde said "there was nothing" in Solapur in 2008 and that residents who received land payments had no reason to oppose the plant. Researcher Shripad Dharmadhikary, who founded environment advocacy group Manthan Adhyayan Kendra, said local politicians often supported splashy infrastructure projects to boost their popularity. Any "problems come up much later," he said. Even before the Solapur plant started operating, there were signs of the trouble to come. The first of its two units was supposed to start generating power by the middle of 2016, but it was delayed by more than 12 months because of years of severe water shortages, according to a 2020 regulatory filing. The absence of nearby water resources meant the station ended up drawing on water from a reservoir about 120 km away. Such distances can sharply increase costs and the risk of water theft, said Dharmadhikary and two plant sources. As of May 2023, the station is among India's least water-efficient, according to the latest available federal records. It also has among the lowest capacity utilization rates of coal-fired plants, according to data from government think-tank NITI Aayog. NTPC said its data indicates the Solapur plant has an efficiency ratio in line with the country's norms. Indian stations typically consume twice as much water as their global counterparts, according to the Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment think-tank. Solapur plant officials told reporters in March that capacity utilization will improve with increasing demand, indicating that water consumption could surge in the future. A forthcoming survey on water use in Solapur led by state groundwater authorities and reviewed by Reuters showed that irrigation demand in the district outstrips supply by a third. Dharmes Waghmore owns farmland a few miles from the plant and said that developing it would provide more financial security than his current casual work. But he said borrowing money to develop the land by drilling a bore well is too risky: "What if there's no water?" Kuladeep Jangam, a top local official, said authorities were struggling to draw businesses to Solapur. The lack of "water neutralizes all other pull factors," he said. THIRST FOR WATER Since 2014, India has lost 60.33 billion units of coal-power generation across the country - equivalent to 19 days of coal-power supply at June 2025 levels - because water shortages force plants to suspend generation, according to federal data. Among the facilities that have struggled with shortages is the 2,920 MW Chandrapur Super Thermal Power Station, one of India's largest. Located about 500 km northeast of Solapur but also in a water-stressed area, the plant shuts several of its units for months at a time when the monsoon delivers less rain than usual, according to NITI Aayog data. Despite the challenges, the plant is considering adding 800 MW of new capacity, according to the power ministry list seen by Reuters and half a dozen sources at Mahagenco, which operates the station. The document indicates the plant hasn't identified a water source for the expansion, though it has already sourced its coal. State-owned Mahagenco did not respond to Reuters' questions. The plant's thirst for water has previously led to tensions with residents of nearby Chandrapur city. Locals protested the station during a 2017 drought, prompting officials such as local lawmaker Sudhir Mungantiwar to order it to divert water to homes. Mungantiwar, however, says he supports the expansion of the plant, which he hopes will lead to it retiring water-inefficient older units. But the station has already delayed a plan to decommission two polluting and water-guzzling power units with a capacity of 420 MW by about seven years, citing instructions from the federal government, the company sources said. The Indian government asked power companies not to retire old thermal plants until the end of the decade due to a surge in demand following the pandemic, Reuters has reported. Chandrapur resident Anjali, who goes by one name, said she is resigned to visiting a tap installed by the station near one of its gates for drinking water. "We're poor, we make do with whatever we can get," she said. (Reporting by Krishna N. Das in Chandrapur and Sarita Chaganti Singh in Solapur; Additional reporting by Shivam Patel in New Delhi; Graphics by Ainnie Arif and Han Huang; Editing by Katerina Ang)
The National
a day ago
- The National
Climate change sceptics and clean fuel shortage risk airline industry's decarbonisation target
The airline industry's central sustainability goal of net zero emissions by 2050 is at risk from the policies of climate change sceptics, such as US President Donald Trump. The rise of world leaders who support fossil fuels over renewable energy development and the scaling back of environmental regulations are 'obviously a setback', Marie Owens Thomsen, Iata's senior vice president of sustainability and chief economist, said. 'It does imperil success on the 2050 horizon,' she said. 'But I don't think it's going to reverse or halt progress, it will just slow progress. Now that's bad enough ... the 2050 deadline is coming furiously fast.' During its annual meeting in New Delhi last week the International Air Transport Association (Iata) nevertheless remained committed to the 2050 target date, despite airing escalating concerns about the cost, availability and insufficient government incentives for the production of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF). This is not where we should be in 2025 ... there is no time for delay and no tolerance for government greenwashing and unnecessary cost increases Willie Walsh, director general, Iata Iata member airlines agreed in 2021 to target net zero emissions in 2050 based mainly on a gradual switch to SAF, which is made from waste oil and biomass. The aviation industry accounts for 2.5 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions, according to the International Energy Agency. But it has come under increasing pressure from environmentalists to curb its carbon footprint amid booming air travel demand. While the amount of SAF produced will double to two million tonnes in 2025, that represents only 0.7 per cent of airlines' jet fuel demand, according to Iata's latest data. The average cost of SAF in 2024 was 3.1 times that of jet fuel, for a total additional cost of $1.6 billion, according to Iata estimates. In 2025, the global average cost for SAF is expected to be 4.2 times that of jet fuel. 'Another problem, which is related, is that oil is so cheap,' Ms Thomsen said. 'I think that also diminishes the sense of urgency that people have.' Oil prices will need to trade above $80 a barrel, or even above $100 a barrel, before there is pressure to create new energy markets, she said. Brent, the benchmark for two thirds of the world's crude, was trading around $66 a barrel on Sunday. Lower oil prices come amid Mr Trump's tariffs scheme, his calls to " drill baby drill" and a decision by Opec to hike crude output quotas. Iata estimates the cost of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 to be an enormous $4.7 trillion, or $174 billion a year. However, ramping up the production of SAF is 'entirely achievable' as there is sufficient feedstock and the technology is available to get started, Ms Thomsen said. The required SAF investments are comparable to the money governments had poured into developing previous new energy markets such as wind and solar, she said, adding that the funding can also be found by scrapping subsidies to the world's major oil producing companies. 'The world is subsidising large oil companies to the height of $1 trillion per year. With that money, if it were redirected in its totality, we could solve our energy transition in less than five years,' she said. 'The thing that is really missing is the courage and willingness to take on vested interests.' Sounding the alarm SAF production needs an 'exponential expansion' to meet the demands of the airline industry's commitment to net zero carbon emissions by 2050, said Iata, which represents some 350 airlines, comprising more than 80 per cent of global air traffic. Airlines cannot achieve the target by themselves and require more urgent action from governments, manufacturers, airport operators and fuel suppliers, Willie Walsh, Iata's director general, said. 'These actions must be accompanied by ringing the alarm bells on SAF production,' he said at the Iata meeting in India. Iata's decarbonisation roadmap estimates that SAF will provide 65 per cent of the carbon mitigation needed in 2050. 'This is not where we should be in 2025. We have a quarter-century to get to net zero. There is no time for delay and no tolerance for government greenwashing and unnecessary cost increases,' Mr Walsh said. Top priorities In April Mr Walsh had warned that industry efforts to achieve net zero by 2050 were 'off track', but he said last week that any alteration of the target was no discussed at the airlines' meeting in New Delhi. 'The industry is still obviously targeting net zero in 2050 ... we are concerned about the pace of progress,' he said. The value chain that needs to support airlines' transition to net zero is not making sufficient progress, and 'that's the reason we're calling it out', he added. Poorly co-ordinated government actions are leading to SAF mandates in different countries that have done little to stimulate production but have instead led to additional costs to the airlines without environmental benefits, he said. The Iata boss said there was a narrow window for the industry to meet its goals. 'It is a wake up-call. We still have time to get there, but we do need to see more action on the part of all the partners in the value chain to make sure the industry can get there,' he said. As of 2025, some 81 airlines had signed 170 SAF offtake agreements, signalling to producers that there is strong demand for the green fuel, according to Iata. Many airlines are unable to procure SAF without having to ship it over long distances, which defeats the purpose of reducing emissions, Mr Walsh said. 'Waning enthusiasm' Four years after global carriers committed to net zero by 2050, the Iata meeting marked escalating worry among airline chiefs about tackling climate concerns. 'There's a level of scepticism and perhaps even you could say waning enthusiasm for the overall energy transition,' Patrick Healy, group chair at Cathay Pacific, said during a panel on financing net zero target. 'Everyone's realising it's a lot more complicated than we thought a few years ago ... but it's not a problem we can turn our backs on.' Iata forecasts higher profits for airlines in 2025, with a drop in revenue offset by falling prices for traditional jet fuel. Rob McLeod, head of energy risk solutions at Hartree Partners, called on airlines to use the savings from fuel costs to invest more in SAF to help fund the energy transition. 'Lower fossil fuel prices effectively make renewables seem more expensive, but to flip it on its head: all the airlines in the room are saving so much money on their fossil jet [fuel], you've maybe got a bit more in your budget to invest more in SAF,' he told a panel about the energy transition. Iata also criticised plane manufacturers that have failed to deliver new fuel-efficient jets on time, forcing airlines to keep older planes flying for longer. 'Aircraft and engine manufacturers must make good on their promises to bring greater efficiency and carbon-reducing technologies to market fast,' Mr Walsh said. 'By the time we meet next year, we must be able to show more progress.'
