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Get ready for more frequent natural calamities in future

By Somesh Menon Published 16 Sep 2020

New Delhi, September 2020: There are several firms in India which spend a significant chunk of their CSR fund on relief works related to natural calamity and in all probability the allocation towards relief work, is only going to increase. Because, frequency of extreme weather events has increased in last few years.

In the recent past, there has been an increase in formation of cyclones and it is going to increase in the near future, informed Harsh Vardhan, Minister of Science & Technology, Earth Sciences and Health & Family Welfare while speaking in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

The minister used historical data to highlight the changing pattern. He said that on average five cyclones have been developing over the North Indian Ocean every year from 1897 to 2017. Out of these, four develop over the Bay of Bengal and one over the Arabian Sea.

However, an increase in frequency has been observed in formation of cyclones over Arabian Sea in recent years, show studies.

The details of cyclones formed over North Indian Ocean during 2017 to 2019 follow:

YEAR	FREQUENCY OF CYCLONES OVER		Total number of cyclones	Cyclones with Severity
YEAR	Arabian Sea	Bay of Bengal	Total number of cyclones	Cyclones with Severity
2017	1	2	3	2
2018	3	4	7	6
2019	5	3	8	6

The occurrence of five cyclones over Arabian Sea in 2019 against the normal of one per year equals the previous record of the year 1902 for the highest annual cyclone frequency over Arabian Sea. Also the year 2019 witnessed development of more intense cyclones over Arabian Sea, said the minister.

And not only cyclones, the country is facing frequent flood like situations as well. Harsh Vardhan says that the country has witnessed intense to very intense rainfall leading to floods in the recent past. The number of stations reported ‘Very Heavy’ and ‘Extremely Heavy’ rainfall in the last three years, from 2017 to 2019 is as follows:

YEAR	Number of stations reported during Monsoon (June to September)
YEAR	Very Heavy Rainfall (115.6-204.4 mm)	Extremely Heavy Rainfall (204.5 mm or more)
2017	1,824	261
2018	2,181	321
2019	3,056	554

Spending CSR funds for relief related activities qualify as CSR expenditure depending on the nature of funds spent. The use of CSR funds is allowed for promotion of health care including preventive health care and sanitation, and disaster management. Many firms in India spend their significant chunk of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds on rehabilitation of people affected from natural disasters like cyclones, flood. For example, ICICI Bank has committed Rs 4 crore for Cyclone Amphan relief work. Coca-Cola India partnered with Save the Children for the relief work after Cyclone Amphan which created havoc in West Bengal in May and affected lakhs of people there.