Reference no: EM133629281

Fahim lives in New Delhi with his wife (Arifa) and their two young children. He is a farmer and owns a small plot of land for growing crops. Arifa is a daily wage worker employed as a roti maker at a roadside eatery.

Unfortunately, due to a recent heatwave, Fahim's crops were damaged and yields have dropped by almost half. Other farmers in the region were also experiencing the same issue and this has resulted in a shortage of food supply.

As a result, Fahim's income was affected and he was eventually forced to sell a part of his land as he had borrowed money from moneylenders to buy seeds and fertilizer and he has not enough income to pay the debt.

Due to the heatwave, Arifa had to cut down on her working hours as it was impossible to work next to a tandoor (a clay oven) during the ongoing heat spell, especially when it is placed outdoors in the sun. This has also reduced Arifa's daily earnings significantly.

In the midst of all this, Fahim's children have been suffering from heat related sicknesses and one of his children (Aarav) was so critically ill that Fahim had feared that Aarav would not survive.

Fahim's uncle, Rahul, lives in Assam where there is severe flooding. And Rahul has informed Fahim that some of their relatives, who were living in informal settlements, have been killed by the floods or were suffering from illnesses after the floods occurred.

a) Determine the main cause of the weather extremes in India and whether this is contributed by human activities, citing at least two (2) examples of such human activities that may have contributed to it.

b) With reference to Fahim, Arifa and Rahul's circumstances, discuss how these weather extremes may have a direct or indirect impact on four (4) SDGs. [In your answer, you are not required to consider SDG13 Climate Change.]