IMD predicts rain in north

“Uttar Pradesh may receive fairly widespread rainfall activity during July 12-14,” IMD said, without specifying whether western Uttar Pradesh would get its due quota of monsoon rain.

For the rest of the state, scattered rainfall is the only forecast.

The condition in the northwest deteriorated last week, whereas the situation has improved in other regions.

The monsoon is deficient by 50 per cent in the agriculturally most productive northwest regions comprising Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.

Sources told Deccan Herald that the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) was working on a special agricultural strategy for states with deficient and scanty rainfall. The plan is expected to be finalised next week.

Since the window for khariff sowing expires on July 15, the Centre has started working on a contingency plan. A meeting of the state agriculture secretaries to discuss emergency options is also on the cards.

As on July 10, the cumulative seasonal rainfall for the country as a whole is 34 per cent below the average compared with last week when it was deficient by 43 per cent.

Out of the 36 meteorological sub-divisions, the rainfall is deficient or scanty in 25 sub-divisions. The condition in 20 meteorological sub-divisions improved last week, but the situation deteriorated in eight sub-divisions, mainly in northwest India. The worst affected (rainfall deficiency of 60 per cent or more) sub-divisions are west Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat.

DH News Service