MC Daily Monsoon Tracker: Rainfall deficit narrows to lowest level in 10 days

Rainfall deficit narrows

India’s rainfall deficit narrowed to lowest level of 1.4 percent as of July 20, even as eastern and north-western states in the country fell further into deficit, according to data released by the Indian Meteorological Department.

The number of states with deficient rainfall was 11 on July 20, with another seven facing excess rainfall and three experiencing large excess rainfall.

Chandigarh continues to experience over 50 percent deficit, with Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Jharkhand experiencing over 30 percent deficit.

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

Uneven rainfall distribution contributed to rise in reservoir deficit to 13 percent compared as of July 18 with 10 percent compared to the previous week, according to data released by Central Water Commission.
Andhra Pradesh and Bihar continue to face over 60 percent deficit in capacity.

The government is yet to release acreage data. But paddy, pulses and oilseeds experienced over 20 percent higher acreage from similar period in the previous year, as of July 12. Area sown under paddy and pulses was 11.6 million hectares and 6.2 million hectares, whereas oilseeds covered 14 million hectares.
Sowing under coarse cereals was down 7 percent during this period.

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