Bihar allocates Rs 68,500 cr for climate chage sensitive departments

In last 10 years, 4,000 people and more than 42,000 cattle have died due to the floods in Bihar, says deputy CM

Bihar government has allocated Rs 68,500 crore for climate change sensitive departments in the current fiscal. The state government said that the money spent would protect its people from calamities caused due to the climate change.

"Climate change is real," said Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar Sushil Kumar Modi while releasing the State Action Plan Financial Framework for climate change, "It has emerged as a primary policy challenge and an area of concern since it is associated with increasing regularity and intensity of disasters. It has become a pivotal subject for the state government as Bihar is prone to multiple hazards, many of which are directly aggravated by climate change. In last 10 years, 4,000 people and more than 42,000 cattle have died due to the floods in Bihar. More than 1.4 lakh houses have been destroyed and crops worth Rs. 1,781 crore were damaged by the floods in various parts of the state."

" There is an increase in flood frequency and new areas such as Kishanganj and Araria, which have never been flood affected, are now facing the floods. There need to be concentrated efforts by every country to counter the climate change. Developed nations are the biggest polluters and therefore they need to share more of the burden. The central government has already announced that it would continue to abide by the Paris accords despite the fact that the US has walked out of the deal," said Modi at the national symposium on climate change organised by the Asian Development Research Institute (ADRI) in collaboration with Action on Climate Today (ACT), DFID-Climate Change Innovation Programme.

The financial framework report, prepared by the ADRI and ACT, revealed that the total expenditure in the financial year 2017-18 budget for climate change sensitive departments is Rs. 68,495 crore. However, the state government need to increase the fund by 13% in nominal terms simply to maintain the current level of services in the face of inflation.

The report also highlights the strong need for the technical capacity building to improve understanding of climate change and the environment, both in technical institutions and in the key line departments. This should include monitoring the latest evidence on climate change projections for Bihar and the potential impact of climate change on the economy, society and environment of the state.