MEGHALAYA, INDIA, April 29, 2003: Cherrapunji and Mawsynram, located in a remote part of northeast India, usually experience torrential rains. Increases in pollution and deforestation have been blamed for the environmental changes. Meghalaya, which means “Home of the Clouds” in Sanskrit and Hindi, enjoyed the distinction of having two of the world’s wettest places, Cherrapunji and Mawsynram, but Cherrapunji is drying up. During the winter, rains almost stop and the springs dry up. S.C. Sahu, deputy director of the Central Meteorological Department in Meghalaya’s capital, Shillong, says, “In July 1861 alone, Cherrapunji had 366 inches of rain. Between August 1860 and July 1861, Cherrapunji got a record 1,042 inches of rain — a world record. But now the annual rainfall there has sharply fallen to less than a third of that.” HPI adds: While environmentalists rightly claim deforestation as the cause of the marked decrease in annual rainfall, the reasons for deforestation are not mentioned here. Deforestation has become rampant because after the villagers converted to Christianity, the forests were no longer considered sacred and they indiscriminately cut them down, changing their climate.
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