Deficit in Monsoon Rainfall

Deficit in Monsoon Rainfall

                  The rainfall for the country as a whole during monsoon season from 1^st June till 10^th August, 2014 has been deficient by -18%.

                 The state wise deficient rainfall from 1st June to 10^th August, 2014 is as below.

S. No.	State	Sub Division	Deficient Rainfall %
1	Jammu & Kashmir	Jammu & Kashmir	-48
2	Himachal Pradesh	Himachal Pradesh	-35
3	Punjab	Punjab	-58
4	Haryana Chandigarh and Delhi	Haryana Chandigarh and Delhi	-56
5	Uttar Pradesh	West Uttar Pradesh	-47
		East Uttar Pradesh	-34
6	Bihar	Bihar	-28
7	Assam & Meghalaya	Assam & Meghalaya	-29
8	Arunachal Pradesh	Arunachal Pradesh	-21
9	Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram & Tripura	Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram & Tripura	-47
10	Gujarat	Gujarat Region DNH & Daman	-24
11	Maharashtra	Vidarbha	-23
		Marathwada	-59
12	Karnataka	North Interior Karnataka	-24
13	Telangana	Telangana	-50
14	Andhra Pradesh	Rayalseema	-29
		Coastal Andhra Pradesh	-37
15	Lakshadweep	Lakshadweep	-38

               Whereas 18 Meteorological Subdivisions viz. Orissa (+21%), Uttarakhand (-16%), West Rajasthan (-2%), East Rajasthan (+10%), West Madhya Pradesh (-3%), East Madhya Pradesh (-12%), Chhattisgarh (+1%), Jharkhand (-10%), Gangetic West Bengal (-10%), Sub Himalayan West Bengal (-19%), Saurashtra Kutch & Diu (-15%), Konkan & Goa (-8%), Madhya Maharashtra (-13%), Coastal Karnataka (-5%), South interior Karnataka (+17%), Tamil Nadu & Pondicherry (-8%), Kerala (-2%) and Andaman & Nikobar Islands (+4%)  are in normal to Excess rainfall category.

                                While updating the Monsoon 2014 Long Range Rainfall format in June, the expected seasonal quantum of rain is assessed at 93% of the long period average (LPA) suggesting that below normal rainfall activity during 2014 by fully considering the prospect of El Nino only by the end of August 2014 then. The both statistical and dynamical model consider sea surface temperature (SST) in the pacific and Indian Ocean.

               Despite the above during the first month (June) of the season, the realized rainfall over the country as a whole was deficient by 43% from LPA. The observed rainfall deficiency during June was caused by delayed arrival of monsoon over Kerala and slow progress subsequently while covering the country. The formation of cyclone “Nanauk” over the Arabian Sea during the second week of June has disturbed the monsoon advancement and hence delayed the arrival of monsoon to the central and north India, thus causing deficient monsoon rains in June.

                 However starting from July 13^th 2014, vigorous monsoon rainfall activity has been experienced across the country resulting into the remarkable decrease in the accumulated deficiency of rainfall from -43% to -17% as on 7^th August 2014.

                                 Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) is advocating several technologies like use of short duration drought tolerant varieties, in-situ soil moisture conservation and water harvesting measures, mulching, micro irrigation, resource conservation technologies and use of poor quality water to tackle the situation of moisture deficit in agriculture across the country. The ICAR has also prepared district level contingent plans for over 551 districts to address seasonal rainfall variability (including drought) impact on agriculture.

                 This was stated by Union Minister of State for Science and Technology and Ministry of Earth Sciences Dr. Jitendra Singh in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.