NEW DELHI: Good rains in the past one week over Delhi, Haryana and east Rajasthan helped offset the shortfall in these areas, but they did not reduce the overall country-wide monsoon deficit by much. In this period, India’s cumulative rainfall deficit was down by only one percentage point – from 12% on Aug 2 to 11% on Aug 9 – with many agrarian states, including Bihar, Jharkhand, UP, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh, continuing to witness deficient rainfall.
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It rained in many parts at a time when sowing of Kharif crops had ended in almost 88% of the country’s total sown area. As a result, the acreage deficit could be reduced by only 1% in the past one week, with paddy, the main kharif crop, still reporting 4% less acreage compared to the corresponding period last year. Aug rains will improve water storage in reservoirs, which is a good augury for hydro-power potential being utilised and a back-up being in place for the next sowing season. As of Sunday, as many as 12 states have reported high rain deficits of 20% and more.IMD on Sunday, however, predicted a rise in rainfall activity over Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Bihar from Aug 13 onwards due to possible formation of a low-pressure area over the north Bay of Bengal and Bengal-Bangladesh coasts around Thursday. This may, to some extent, revive sowing of paddy and maize in Bihar and Jharkhand. Region-wise, all regions, except central India, have reported cumulative monsoon rainfall deficit despite ‘normal’ rains in July and in the first week of August, with east and northeast India recording the highest deficit of 25%, followed by 17% in south peninsular India and 11% in northwest India.
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