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India weighs weather control risks amid China artificial rainfall plans
A proposed Indian pushback involves concerns that large scale atmospheric manipulation could create downstream effects it cannot ignore, according to SCMP Economy.
New Delhi is increasingly treating weather modification as a national security issue as China plans to expand artificial rainfall across 5.5 million square kilometers, a region roughly 1.7 times the size of India, SCMP Economy reports.
The outlet links the concern to a larger debate over whether controlling atmospheric moisture, including over the Tibetan Plateau, could be used as a geopolitical pressure tool, especially as climate disasters become more frequent.
SCMP Economy says an Indian project first raised in 2016 aims to intercept and redirect atmospheric moisture across the Tibetan Plateau, but it has faced criticism within China and abroad.
According to the report, Sarma argued that introducing such a system would have huge ramifications and that India cannot afford to ignore downstream effects from large scale atmospheric manipulation.