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Raging forest fires in Uttarakhand could have a devastating effect on the state's glaciers which are the lifeline of the major rivers flowing through India's northern plains. According to experts at Nainital's Aryabhatta Research Institute for Observational Sciences and Govind Ballabh Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development in Almora, 'black carbon' from smog and ash is covering the glaciers, thereby making them prone to melting.