Monsoon advances, set to bring relief from heatwave in North India

Monsoon

The Southwest monsoon is advancing after stalling for more than a week and rains are set to cover central parts of the country in the next few days, bringing relief from the heatwave in the grain-growing northern plains, agencies reported quoting senior officials from from MeT department.

The southwest monsoon is gathering pace and is expected to progress further in the coming days, providing much-needed relief to north India, which is reeling under an intense heatwave.

Summer rains, critical for economic growth in Asia's third-largest economy, usually begin in the south around June 1 before spreading nationwide by July 8, allowing farmers to plant crops such as rice, cotton, soybeans, and sugarcane.

The monsoon arrived nearly two days ahead of schedule in the western state of Maharashtra, home to the commercial capital of Mumbai, but its progress in central and eastern states of the country stalled for nearly a week.

The lifeblood of the nearly $3.5-trillion economy, the monsoon brings nearly 70% of the rain India needs to water farms and refill reservoirs and aquifers. In the absence of irrigation, nearly half the farmland in the world's second-biggest producer of rice, wheat and sugar depends on the annual rains that usually run from June to September.

India has received 20 per cent less rainfall since the start of the monsoon period on June 1, with the rain-bearing system making no significant progress between June 12 and 18.

On Tuesday the IMD said that June will receive below-normal rainfall.

June and July are considered the most important monsoon months for agriculture because most of the sowing for the Kharif crop takes place during this period.