MC Daily Monsoon Tracker: Twelve states face deficient rainfall conditions

Rainfall deficit stays above 2 percent

The number of states with deficient rainfall increased back to 12 as on July 19, as compared with 11 over the last few days, according to data released by the Indian Meteorological Department.

India faced a rainfall deficit of 2.44 percent on July 19, compared with 3.1 percent the previous day. The rainfall deficit has now remained above 2 percent for three consecutive days.

The number of states facing excess or large excess rainfall also increased to nine from eight over the last week. Chandigarh continues to experience over 50 percent deficit, with 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.