Lok Sabha Question No. 2992 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-08-06
Subject: Lightning Strikes
Ministry: EARTH SCIENCES
Asked by: Sudheer Gupta, Ravi Kishan Shukla, Bhagwant Mann, Prataprao  Jadhav, Ravindra Kushawaha, Sanjay Sadashivrao Mandlik, Adoor Prakash, Brijendra Singh, S. Gnanathiraviam, Shrirang Appa Barne, Chandra Sekhar Sahu, Vijay Kumar, Bidyut Baran Mahato

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES LOKSABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2992 TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, 6 th AUGUST, 2021

## LIGHTNING STRIKES

## 2992. SHRI SUDHEER GUPTA:

SHRI RAVI KISHAN:

SHRI BHAGWANT MANN:

SHRI PRATAPRAO JADHAV:

SHRI RAVINDRA KUSHWAHA:

SHRI SANJAY SADASHIVRAO MANDLIK:

ADV. ADOOR PRAKASH:

SHRI BRUENDRA SINGH:

SHRI GNANATHIRAVIAM S.:

SHRI SHRIRANG APPA BARNE:

SHRI CHANDRA SEKHAR SAHU:

SHRI VUA YAKUMAR (ALIAS) VIJA Y VASANTH:

SHRI BIDYUT BARAN MAHATO:

## Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:

- (a) whether cases of lightning strikes have increased in various parts of the country and if so, the details thereof and the areas identified as most prone to lightning, State/UT­ wise;
- (b) whether the Government has any mechanism to monitor lightning strikes in the country;
- (c) if so, the details thereof and the number of such strikes reported in various parts of the country during each of the last three years, State/UT-wise
- (d) the number of persons lost their lives and details of property damaged due to the lightning during the above period and the financial assistance provided thereof, State/UT-wise;
- (e) whether the Government also proposes to include lightning strikes as natural calamity, if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor; and
- (f) the details of outcome of the study regarding possible correlation between increase in lightning strikes and climate change?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND EARTH SCIENCES

(DR. JITENDRA SINGH)

- (a) Yes Sir. As per recent studies, lightning activity have shown increasing trend over India in past two decades. North-East, East and parts of peninsular India have registered a sharp increase of lighting over the past 2 decades. The increase is minimal over Central India and moderate over rest of the country.
- (b) Yes. Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, an autonomous research and development institution under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), has established a lightning location network strategically installed at 83 places in the country to detect and locate lightning strikes with utmost accuracy. Central processor of this network located at IITM, receives and processes the signal received from the network and identifies the location of lightning strikes with less than 500 m accuracy. The output from this network is shared with India Meteorological Department (IMD) and various State Government and is used for nowcasting purposes.

From National Weather Forecasting Centre, these forecasts and warnings are given in meteorological sub-divisional scale where as State Meteorological Centdes issue the same in district level. In addition to that, thunderstorms and associated disastrous weather phenomena are covered by nowcast (forecast for next 3 hours issued every 3 hours) in the location/district level by State Meteorological Centres. At present this facility is extended to all the districts and for about 1084 stations across the country.

Along with the forecasts and warning for thunderstorms, guidelines for the public for necessary precautions while getting exposed to thunderstorm are also being included nowadays. These guidelines had been finalized in collaboration with National Disaster Management Authority (NOMA).

In 2020, Damini Lightning apps was developed by IITM-Pune and MoES, The App is monitoring all lightning activity which are happening in specifically for all India and alert the person if lightning is happening near the person by GPS notification under 20KM and 40KM radius. Details description of instruction, precautions is provided in apps while in lightning prone area. Do and Don't for in specific situation is strictly followed when lightning happen nearby for safety purpose. It also provides the lightning warning at the location valid for next 40 minutes.

- (c) Like any other natural hazard, lightning also exhibit inter annular variability. As compared to 2019, there is a 25% increase in lightning strikes in 2020. However, in 2021, data till June shows 10% decrease in lightning strikes compared to corresponding period of 2020. Details of Cloud-to Ground strikes reported in 2019,2020 and 2021 (till June) is given in Annexure-I.
- (d) As per the Annual Lightning Report prepared by Climate Resilient Observing Systems Promotion Council (CROPC) in collaboration with IMD, State-wise details of deaths due to lightning during (01 April 2020 to 31 March 2021 is shown in Fig.-l. For related details, the full report available on the following link:

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- (e) Lightning is a disastrous weather phenomena associated with thunderstorm. IMD issues forecast and warnings for thunderstorms and associated weather phenomena five days in advance with regular updates, as and when the situation arises,
- (f) Associated with the global warming, increase in various extreme weather conditions including lightning events have been observed in the country in line with increase in such events observed over various other parts of the globe.

## Cloud-to Ground lightning strikes

| STATE                    |    2019 |    2020 |   2021 (upto June) |
|--------------------------|---------|---------|--------------------|
| Andhra Pradesh           |  230296 |  194011 |             106058 |
| Arunachal Pradesh        |    3871 |    5756 |               3334 |
| Assam                    |   65109 |   79378 |              54685 |
| Bihar                    |  148225 |  423024 |             150154 |
| Chhatisgarh              |  343099 |  653967 |             262512 |
| Goa                      |    8497 |    1945 |               4611 |
| Gujrat                   |  201758 |  259674 |              18899 |
| Haryana                  |   29411 |   63957 |              23304 |
| Himachal                 |   18022 |   20621 |              15241 |
| Jharkhand                |  321840 |   65904 |             256964 |
| Karnataka                |  329460 |  586645 |             215322 |
| Kerala                   |  137458 |  181433 |              90901 |
| Madhya Pradesh           |  539222 |  173607 |             285144 |
| Maharashtra              |  402512 |  568754 |             213967 |
| Manipur                  |    8339 |  459208 |               6193 |
| Meghalaya                |   52949 |    9941 |              41906 |
| Mizoram                  |   28615 |   64126 |              13884 |
| Nagaland                 |    5303 |   27000 |               2941 |
| Odisha                   |  564293 |   60403 |             276696 |
| Punjab                   |   30029 |  715035 |              27694 |
| Rajasthan                |  182588 |   62854 |              80718 |
| Sikkim                   |     378 |  212327 |               2035 |
| Tamilnadu                |  225194 |    2952 |              75135 |
| Telangana                |  174816 |  214458 |              70266 |
| Tripura                  |   29415 |  147300 |              15557 |
| Uttar Pradesh            |  244976 |  109739 |             117168 |
| Uttarakhand              |   17991 |  345506 |              17129 |
| West Bengal              |  363262 |   36574 |             305158 |
| Chandigarh               |      95 |  568176 |                 74 |
| Dadar & N Haveli         |     550 |    3119 |                 62 |
| Daman & Diu              |     255 |     241 |                  2 |
| Delhi                    |    1334 |    1393 |                767 |
| Lakshadweep              |     845 |     100 |               1292 |
| Puducherry               |     535 |    1694 |                352 |
| Jammu & Kashmir & Ladakh |   53939 |    6961 |              28721 |
| Andaman & N              |    4679 |    2356 |               2230 |
| Total                    | 4769160 | 6330139 |            2787076 |

Figure-l

Fig.-11l

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