A good spell of rain over the last week has helped bring down reservoir deficit across the country to 4 percent below normal from 13 percent, latest Central Water Commission (CWC) data shows.
This monsoon season, the rain spread has been uneven, with several parts of the country reporting floods while some other parts are still rain deficient. The gap, however, seems to be narrowing.
The country got surplus rainfall for the third consecutive day on July 25, with 2.44 percent more rain than normal, India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said. The number of states to get normal or above normal rain stands at 26.
Ten states mostly in the Northwest and east India are still rainfall deficient.
Chandigarh has more than 50 percent deficit, with Jharkhand, Punjab, Haryana and Manipur experiencing over 40 percent shortfall.
In monsoon parlance, a normal is calculated using a long-period average of 30 years for a specific region. Despite reservoir levels declining, Punjab, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh continue to face over 50 percent deficit in capacity.
Data released by the ministry of agriculture and farmer welfare showed that paddy, pulses and oilseeds experienced higher acreage as of July 19 from similar period in the previous year. While sowing under coarse cereals was down during this period. Overall sowing was 3.5 percent higher under Kharif crops.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget speech expanded the mission on pulses and oilseeds to make India self-sufficient.
The government is hoping for a revival of its agricultural sector, which recorded a 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.
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