From correspondents in Delhi, India, 08:30 PM IST

Farmer suicides in India are linked to climate change as farmers are unable to adapt to changing weather patterns caused by global warming, Congress MP Jyotiraditya Scindia said in the Lok Sabha Tuesday.

'The World Bank study has found a very high degree of correlation between farmers' suicides and climate change. Poor farmers who are unable to adapt to changing climate caused by global warming fall into a debt trap and later into a death trap,' Scindia said in the Lok Sabha.

The Gwalior MP asked the government to respond to the advice, proposals and warnings given by the World Bank in order to 'mitigate the imminent results of global warming for the farmers in the country'.

Scindia's submission impressed the entire house and Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said the Lok Sabha should have a discussion on the effects of global warming.

'I think this matter should be properly discussed. This is an important issue. Let the parliament of India discuss such matters. I will allow a discussion over this,' Chatterjee told Scindia.

Raising the issue during zero hour, Scindia pointed out that there had been 'alarming signals and warnings cautioning us about the imminent disastrous effects of global warming on India'.

'NASA has reported that 2005 was the warmest year on record. The experts from the University of Reading have warned that summer rainfall in India is going to increase by 10 percent causing swollen rivers and devastation across agricultural landscape.'

Quoting former World Bank chief Nicholas Stern, Scindia said regional surface temperature would be 2.5 degrees to five degrees Celsius higher and northern India would be hotter too.

'The temperature rise will result in losses to the tune of 0.67 percent in our GDP. Further, the sea level will rise by 100 cm, which can lead to welfare loss of $1.3 billion. This will also lead to malaria increasing in a number of states,' he warned.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)