[Global Times reporter Zhou Yang] A research report jointly released by a number of Indian scientific research institutions recently pointed out that in the past 30 years, the number of sunshine hours in India has continued to decline, and the magnitude has had a far-reaching impact on energy, agriculture, public health and other fields. The British "Daily Telegraph" Indian edition commented on the 13th that India may be entering an era of "sunshine crisis".

Relevant research was jointly completed by Benares Hindu University, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology and Indian Meteorological Bureau. The results show that in the past 30 years, the annual sunshine hours on the west coast of India have decreased by an average of 8.6 hours per year, and even by 13.1 hours per year in the northern plains. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) quoted the research report as saying that from 1988 to 2018, data from 20 weather stations across India showed that the sunshine hours in almost all areas showed a downward trend except a few areas in the northeast, especially in Amritsar, Kolkata and Mumbai.

Scientists say that this "sunshine fading" in India is not a purely natural fluctuation, but the result of the superposition of pollution and cloud changes. The research team found that the increasing number of aerosol particles and thicker and longer-lasting clouds in the atmosphere have become the key factors leading to the reduction of sunlight. Tripathi, a professor of environmental science at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, said that between 1993 and 2022, aerosols reduced the sunlight received by India's ground by about 13%, while the additional solar radiation loss caused by clouds was as high as 31% to 44%. Srivastava, a professor of geophysics at Benares Hindu University, pointed out that the presence of aerosols makes clouds "stay longer without rain", and this "persistent cloudy day" caused by man-made factors is reshaping India's climate model. According to the BBC, this is intertwined with a deeper and long-standing problem: India's serious air pollution crisis. India is currently among the top ten countries in the world in terms of severity of pollution problems. Factors such as rapid urbanization and industrial growth have led to increased fossil fuel use and biomass burning, which eventually leads to aerosols entering the atmosphere.

The direct consequence of the shrinking daylight time is the embarrassment of India¡¯s energy strategy. Solar power generation is viewed by the Indian government as the core pillar of national climate and energy policy. Official data show that solar energy accounts for half the size of the country¡¯s renewable energy installations (about 47 percent). By the beginning of 2025, India¡¯s cumulative solar installations capacity has exceeded 100 gigawatts (1 gigawatts equivalent to 1 billion watts), and the government plans to 500 gigawatts of renewable energy installations by 2030.

According to the BBC, in the most significant areas of the northern plains, such as Punjab, Haryana and the Northern States, farmers slow crops growth, prolonged leaf moisture, and increased risk of fungal diseases, leading to a significant decrease in main produce such as wheat and rice. Some studies estimated that in severely affected areas, main production decrease could reach more than 30 percent. In addition, insufficient sunlight is believed to affect human hormone levels and day and night rhythms, reduce alertness and disrupt sleep cycles. Psychologists pointed out that insufficient sunlight time is associated with problems such as fatigue, anxiety, seasonal mood disorders and vitamin D deficiency. The Indian Times said that the continued decline in daylight numbers urges policy makers to

The report emphasized that internationally, it is not uncommon to reduce sunshine due to industrial emissions. Europe has faced a similar "dimming" phenomenon. However, with the implementation of environmental protection policies, Europe ushered in a rebound in sunshine in the late 1990s. Similarly, by strictly implementing environmental protection policies, China has reversed the decline in sunshine hours in its country and promoted the successful recovery of sunshine hours. Experts believe that these development governance experiences from "turning from darkness to light" are worth learning from India.