MC Daily Monsoon Tracker: Delhi overturns rainfall deficit in a day

Rainfall deficit narrows sharply

The national capital, Friday, overturned its rainfall deficit, receiving over 1565% of its normal rainfall in a day. For the month until June 28, Delhi has received 68% higher rainfall than normal, according to data released by the Indian Meteorological Department.

The Safdarjung station in Delhi recorded the highest rainfall in 88 years.

The rainfall deficit for India narrowed sharply to 14.5% from 17.1% just a day before, with most North Indian parts experiencing spells of heavy rainfall.

Kharif sowing was up 33% on June 28, compared with the previous year, with pulses up 181%, paddy largely unchanged, and oilseeds sowing higher than the previous year.

Only seven of the 36 states and UTs continued to witness over 50% deficiency in rainfall, with Chandigarh facing the highest deficit levels at 92%. (see graphic)

In monsoon parlance, a normal is calculated using a long-period average of 30 years for a specific region.

A deficit is computed in percentage terms if the rainfall is below the long-period average.

The reservoir level situation worsened in the week until June 27. Reservoir levels were down 16.7% from normal as of June 27, compared with 9% in the previous week.

Bihar and Andhra Pradesh have an over 50% deficit in reservoir levels.

A recent report pointed out that climate change was taking a toll on farmers, with 80% of marginal farmers saying they had suffered an extreme weather event in the past five years.

Food inflation was sticky above 8% in May and will likely stay elevated in the coming months.

Higher food inflation means that rural inflation has outstripped urban inflation for nearly a year and is likely to do so in the coming months.

The government is hoping for a revival of its agricultural sector, which recorded 1.4% growth in FY24 compared to 4.7% in the previous year, also lower than the 3.7% long-term average.