1/3rd of India’s coastline underwent erosion in 28 years

Context: According to a recent technical report by the National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR), between 1990 and 2018 nearly 32% of India’s coastline underwent sea erosion and 27% of it experienced expansion.
Coastlines in India

• Length of the coastline of India including the coastlines of Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal and Lakshadweep Islands in the Arabian Sea is 7517 km.
• Length of Coastline of the Indian mainland is 6100 km which is surrounded by the Arabian Sea in the west, Bay of Bengal in the east, and the Indian Ocean in the south.

Factors and Causes of Soil Erosion due to Water

• Human Induced factors
• Faulty farming systems
• deforestation caused by overgrazing
• clearance of land for agricultural purpose
• construction, dam construction
• diversion of the natural course of rivers
• mining activities  
• Rainfall Intensity and Runoff 

The impact of raindrops will break up the soil and water build-up will create runoff, taking sediment with it 
Why erosion in eastern coast more than western coast?

• The eastern coast underwent more erosion due to frequent cyclonic activities from Bay of Bengal in the past three decades, compared to the western coast, which remained largely stable.

Relevant Facts

• Erosion: 60% of the coastline underwent erosion during the period in West Bengal, followed by 56% in Puducherry; 
• Kerala (41 per cent); Tamil Nadu (41 per cent); Andhra Pradesh (28 per cent); Gujarat including Daman and Diu (26 per cent); Odisha (26 per cent); Karnataka (24 per cent); Maharashtra (22 per cent); and Goa (19 per cent). 
• Odisha coast expanded by 51 per cent, the report said.
• As many as 98 coastal pockets of the country have been facing sea erosion. Tamil Nadu has 26 coastal areas vulnerable to sea erosion, followed by West Bengal (16).
• Expansion: Odisha’s coast expanded by 51% followed by Andhra Pradesh, which expanded 48%

Road Ahead

• Planning and execution of anti-sea erosion measures are undertaken by the maritime states and UTs as per their own priority and from their own resources. The role of the Union government is technical, advisory and catalytic in nature.