Lok Sabha Question No. 2791 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-08-07
Subject: Cases of Lightening
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Pradeep Kumar Singh

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2791

TO BE ANSWERED ON 07.08.2023

## Cases of Lightening

## 2791.   SHRI PRADEEP KUMAR SINGH

Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of the cases of lightening strikes in the country during the current year, State -wise;
- (b) the number of the people killed due to lightening strikes, State-wise;
- (c) the details of assistance provided by the Government to the family members of such persons;
- (d) whether the incidents of lightening have increased due to deforestation; and
- (e) if so, the concrete steps being taken by the Government to check/prevent the incidents of lightening strikes?

## ANSWER

MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE ( S H R I   A S H W I N I   K U M A R   C H O U B E Y )

- (a) The  details  of  the  lightning  strikes  in  the  country  for  the  current  year  is  given  in Annexure -I .
- (b) The  number  of  deaths  reported  due  to  lightning  strikes,  State-wise,  is  given  in Annexure-II .

(c) As per the Guidelines issued by Ministry of Home Affairs, based on recommendation of 15 th  Finance Commission for Constitution and Administration of State Disaster Response Fund  (SDRF)/  National  Disaster  Response  Fund  (NDRF),  lightning  is  not  included  in  the centrally notified list of natural disasters eligible for relief under SDRF/NDRF.

However, a State Government can use up to 10% of the annual funds allocation of the SDRF,  subject  to  fulfilment  of  certain  prescribed  conditions  and  norms,  for  providing immediate relief to the victims of natural disasters that they consider to be 'disasters' within local context in the State and which are not included in the centrally notified list of natural disasters.

- (d) There are no proven studies linking the increase in the lightning due to de-forestation, However, 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.

(e) Ministry of Earth Sciences, through India Meteorological Department (IMD), issues forecast  and  warnings  for  thunderstorms  and  associated  weather  phenomena  five  days  in advance  with  regular  updates.  Indian  Institute  of  Tropical  Meteorology  (IITM),  Pune,  an autonomous research 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 IMD and various State Governments and is used for nowcasting purposes.

From National Weather Forecasting Centre in IMD, these forecasts and warnings are given in meteorological sub-divisional scale whereas State Meteorological Centres 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.

In 2020, Damini Lightning apps was developed by IITM-Pune. The App is monitoring all  lightning  activity  which  are  happening  over  India  and  alert  the  person  if  lightning  is happening  near  the  person  by  GPS  notification  under  20KM  and  40KM  radius.  Detailed description of instruction, precautions is provided in the mobile app while in lightning prone area. It also provides the lightning warning at the location valid for next 40 minutes. There are more than 5 lakhs downloads of Damini app over India.

Apart  from  the  above, National  Disaster  Management  authority  (NDMA)  has  taken effective steps for mitigation action in the concerned issues. NDMA has issued Guidelines for Action Plan on Thunderstorm & Lightning/ Squall and Strong wind in 2018-2019 and sent to all State Governments/ UTs and uploaded on the website of NDMA.

Further NDMA has taken initiatives as following:

-  NDMA issued specific advisories Do's and Don'ts on Thunderstorm and Lightning to State Governments/ UTs for taking necessary action.
-  NDMA  Reviewed  the  preparedness  &  mitigation  measures  on  Thunderstorm  and Lightning through Video Conferencing (VC) with most affected States.
-  Develop a protocol for early warning dissemination on Thunderstorm and Lightning,
-  NDMA produced IEC materials like TVCs, Pocket Books containing do's and don'ts, audio-visuals on thunderstorm and lightning.
-  Special panel discussion (TV Debate) on 'AapdakaSaamna' show on Doordarshan.
-  Doordarshan and All India Radio -  NDMA  has  run  campaign  through  TV (Doordarshan) and Radio (All India Radio) for awareness generation among masses on 'Thunderstorm  &  Lightning'  during  April  2021  in  the  States  prone  to  the  disaster including North Eastern States and West Bengal.
-  Social Media campaign on thunderstorm and lightning are being conducted by NDMA. Do's and don'ts are being shared on NDMA's social media platforms and videos are being continuously posted on twitter and facebook.

*****

## Number of Lightning Strikes in the current year

| State               |   Jan |   Feb |    Mar |    Apr | May    | June   | July   |
|---------------------|-------|-------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|
| Andhra Pradesh      |     0 |     0 |  85203 | 176987 | 250300 | 92791  | 38920  |
| Arunachal Pradesh   |     0 |   493 |   1239 |   5786 | 2420   | 2118   | 378    |
| Assam               |     0 |  2095 |  18358 | 103892 | 38737  | 43947  | 3513   |
| Bihar               |    17 |     0 |  18495 |  22916 | 53564  | 113926 | 122716 |
| Chhatisgarh         |     0 |    15 |  66400 | 144448 | 69698  | 119387 | 56857  |
| Goa                 |     0 |     0 |      5 |    209 | 7579   | 433    | 43     |
| Gujrat              |  4451 |     0 |  35988 |  13981 | 58596  | 63079  | 32224  |
| Haryana             |   428 |   552 |  13140 |   7645 | 26266  | 15265  | 12186  |
| Himachal            |  1964 |  1985 |   7708 |  10769 | 9977   | 19917  | 3409   |
| Jharkhand           |     0 |     0 |  55462 |  33300 | 106364 | 183363 | 73648  |
| Karnataka           |    53 |     0 |  19604 | 128793 | 354067 | 37279  | 4392   |
| Kerala              |  1474 |     0 |  12704 |  33697 | 72879  | 14332  | 1095   |
| Madhya Pradesh      |  3250 |   328 | 103581 | 167899 | 81774  | 173677 | 176885 |
| Maharashtra         |    67 |     0 |  79934 | 390240 | 99944  | 52921  | 37681  |
| Manipur             |     0 |     6 |   1591 |   8734 | 2343   | 3251   | 218    |
| Meghalaya           |     0 |   725 |  14101 |  40428 | 35460  | 47100  | 2891   |
| Mizoram             |     0 |     0 |   4992 |  17520 | 12975  | 11447  | 1053   |
| Nagaland            |     0 |    43 |    948 |   6066 | 1318   | 2276   | 172    |
| Odisha              |     0 |    17 | 114986 | 180788 | 313619 | 344401 | 46862  |
| Punjab              |   313 |   323 |  17388 |   6359 | 22140  | 15502  | 11174  |
| Rajasthan           | 16624 |  1455 |  65796 |  43538 | 264404 | 150943 | 88122  |
| Sikkim              |     0 |    68 |    772 |   2278 | 302    | 56     | -      |
| Tamilnadu           |    29 |   373 |  46272 |  76350 | 152212 | 58435  | 21515  |
| Telangana           |     0 |     0 |  60558 | 194740 | 111070 | 30812  | 10578  |
| Tripura             |     0 |     6 |   6389 |  16559 | 6488   | 22387  | 945    |
| Uttar Pradesh       |  3902 |   260 |  55655 |  45370 | 70475  | 111612 | 194349 |
| Uttarakhand         |   593 |  1094 |   8519 |   5739 | 11324  | 15287  | 4544   |
| West Bengal         |     0 |   169 | 103774 | 104011 | 202011 | 224250 | 57310  |
| Chandigarh          |     1 |     0 |     14 |     16 | 40     | 54     | 19     |
| Dadar& N Haveli     |     0 |     0 |     80 |     27 | -      | 44     | -      |
| Daman& Diu          |     0 |     0 |      8 |      4 | -      | -      | -      |
| Delhi               |    13 |     4 |    697 |    329 | 686    | 461    | 712    |
| Lakshadweep         |    41 |     0 |      2 |      3 | 8      | 15     | -      |
| Puducherry          |     0 |     0 |    139 |    133 | 102    | 1154   | 141    |
| Jammu& Kashmir      |  1312 |   826 |   2954 |  10366 | 7082   | 7880   | 5877   |
| Ladakh              |     0 |     0 |      0 |      4 | 26     | 99     | 69     |
| Andaman and Nicobar |   213 |    23 |     36 |    523 | 704    | 1319   | 438    |

Source: MoES

Annexure-I

Deaths reported due to lightning

| SN             | State/UT                    | Lightning   |   Lightning |      |
|----------------|-----------------------------|-------------|-------------|------|
| SN             | State/UT                    | 2019        |        2020 | 2021 |
| 1              | Andhra Pradesh              | 109         |          93 |  100 |
| 2              | Arunachal Pradesh           | 0           |           0 |    0 |
| 3              | Assam                       | 28          |          14 |   16 |
| 4              | Bihar                       | 400         |         436 |  286 |
| 5              | Chhattisgarh                | 212         |         246 |  230 |
| 6              | Goa                         | 2           |           0 |    1 |
| 7              | Gujarat                     | 64          |          78 |   40 |
| 8              | Haryana                     | 11          |           3 |   11 |
| 9              | Himachal Pradesh            | 1           |           5 |    4 |
| 10             | Jharkhand                   | 334         |         336 |  254 |
| 11             | Karnataka                   | 99          |          75 |  121 |
| 12             | Kerala                      | 15          |           8 |   15 |
| 13             | Madhya Pradesh              | 400         |         429 |  496 |
| 14             | Maharashtra                 | 189         |         182 |  238 |
| 15             | Manipur                     | 0           |           0 |    0 |
| 16             | Meghalaya                   | 7           |           8 |    7 |
| 17             | Mizoram                     | 1           |           0 |    0 |
| 18             | Nagaland                    | 0           |           1 |    0 |
| 19             | Odisha                      | 271         |         275 |  287 |
| 20             | Punjab                      | 7           |           8 |   13 |
| 21             | Rajasthan                   | 88          |          48 |  132 |
| 22             | Sikkim                      | 0           |           0 |    0 |
| 23             | Tamil Nadu                  | 57          |          64 |  109 |
| 24             | Telangana                   | 96          |          64 |   66 |
| 25             | Tripura                     | 10          |           5 |    4 |
| 26             | Uttar Pradesh               | 321         |         304 |  219 |
| 27             | Uttarakhand                 | 2           |          10 |    1 |
| 28             | West Bengal                 | 147         |         170 |  228 |
| TOTAL STATE(S) | TOTAL STATE(S)              | 2871        |        2862 | 2878 |
| 29             | A &NIslands                 | 1           |           0 |    0 |
| 30             | Chandigarh                  | 2           |           0 |    0 |
| 31             | D&N Haveli and Daman&Diu @+ | 1           |           0 |    0 |
| 32             | Delhi UT                    | 0           |           0 |    0 |
| 33             | Jammu &Kashmir@*            | 1           |           0 |    2 |
| 34             | Ladakh@                     | -           |           0 |    0 |
| 35             | Lakshadweep                 | 0           |           0 |    0 |

## Annexure-II

| 36                | Puducherry        | 0    |    0 |    0 |
|-------------------|-------------------|------|------|------|
| TOTAL UT(S) 5     | TOTAL UT(S) 5     |      |    0 |    2 |
| TOTAL (ALL INDIA) | TOTAL (ALL INDIA) | 2876 | 2862 | 2880 |

Source: NCRB, MHA '+' Combined data of erstwhile D & N HAVELI AND DAMAN & DIU UT during 2019 '*' Data of erstwhile JAMMU & KASHMIR State Including LADAKH during 2019

'@' Data of newly created Union territory 2020