Cloud bursting and landslides in Himachal Pradesh, an outcome of people eating meat : Claims Lakshmidhar Behera, Director, IIT, Mandi

Cloud bursting (Credit : Kurseong Municipality)

Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) – The continuous incidents of cloud bursting and landslides happening in Himachal Pradesh are the result of people eating meat, stated Lakshmidhar Behera, the Director of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mandi, while addressing students in a programme. More than 200 people have lost life in this monsoon due to landslides and floods.

“Himachal Pradesh will have a significant downfall…if we do. Not stop butchering animals. You are butchering animals there… the innocent animals. It has a symbiotic relationship with the degradation of the environment as well… which you cannot see right now but is there…

“It is having landslides, cloudbursts and many other things again and again, these are all effects of cruelty on animals…people eat meat,”

“To become good human beings, what you have to do? No to meat eating,” he further said and then went on to ask the students to vow not to eat meat.

(Credit : Mirror Now)

Editorial Viewpoint

IIT is a very reputed educational institution in the world. When a director of such an institution makes such a claim, it is necessary to seriously give it a thought, rather than ridiculing him.

Cloud bursting explained

Cloud burst, a sudden, very heavy rainfall, usually local in nature and of brief duration. Most so-called cloud bursts occur in connection with thunderstorms. In these storms there are violent uprushes of air, which at times prevent the condensing raindrops from falling to the ground. A large amount of water may thus accumulate at high levels, and if the upward currents are weakened the whole of this water falls at one time.

(Credit : UPSC IAS Squad)

Cloudbursts are especially common in mountainous areas. This is probably because the warm air currents of a thunderstorm tend to follow the upward slope of a mountain. The effects of heavy rain are especially striking on mountain slopes because the falling water is concentrated in valleys and gulleys.