Research
The Atmospheric Warming and Homicides in India
Crime is an act against law and thus is a punishable offence. Crime varies over space and time. Among all crime types, murder is the most cruel and inhumane which do an irreparable damage to the society. The study attempts to examine how atmospheric warming may increase homicides. To achieve this, the paper analyses the trend pattern of homicides and various determinants. Social heterogeneity and weather- more specifically temperature, are considered to be most influencing in catalysing aggression and murder. The study tries to evaluate the linkages between these factors by examining the correlation between homicide and income and poverty level, level of urbanisation, and temperature in India over a 13-year span of time. The analysis is based mainly on the secondary data obtained from National Crime Record Bureau of India, India Meteorological Department and State and District Censuses. Results show that while poverty, urbanisation and income level do not affect the homicide significantly in unidirectional manner, temperature does affects the pattern of murder incidences. Interestingly the regions which have witnessed warming trend during the past decade, are also the areas of high and increasing homicide rates.
Climate and Crime
Few issues provoke as much public concern as violence. Persistent variations in the homicide rates of different countries have led sociologists, criminologists and geographers to question why violence, and lethal violence as an extreme example, is more common in some societies than in others. This paper focuses on one possible explanation: climate, and especially temperature. The analysis is based on monthly crime, temperature, relative humidity and precipitation data of 62-year period (1952 to 2013) of Allahabad city, India. Results show that temperature has a significant positive impact on criminal behavior, and murder incidences in Allahabad city were high in hot months. Relative humidity too seems having significant and positive influence on crime rate, while rainfall showed a negative correlation with crime pattern. Results reveal that climate-crime association follow a linear relationship and crime rate increases with rise in temperature.
Climate Change is Human Induced?
Climate is the most vital element of our planet and its live ability is key concern for every habitat. From Silent Spring till present debate is on about humankind’s impact on nature. Since its establishment in 1988, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has been playing pivotal role in raising public concerns on human-induced climate change through its various assessment reports. These reports follow exhaustive review process, and are widely accepted. In 2007, IPCC`s 4th assessment report- ‘Climate Change 2007 – Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability’ came in question on Himalayan glacier melt. The Climate gate in 2009 further strengthened the confusion on credibility of IPCC`s projections. Present study analyses district level temperature and rainfall patterns of Uttarakhand- a Himalayan state, and examines the validity of IPCC`s projection. Uttarakhand is a tourism oriented economy. State is best known for its religious places and natural sites. Rapid urbanisation in mountainous regions is disturbing regional eco-balance, but increasing vehicular pollution in climatesensitive areas seems to have greater impact on temperature and precipitation patterns. Result shows a noticeable shift in the variability of temperature and rainfall, and a significant warming especially in mountainous districts, However human activities does not correlate very well with these changes.
