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Monsoon rainfall 19% below normal: Govt

Rainfall during this year's southwest Indian monsoon, which runs from June to September, was 19 per cent below normal resulting in drought-like conditions in 29 per cent of the country, officials said on Friday.

Rainfall in July, a critical month for agriculture and one that normally gets one-third of the monsoon's rainfall, was at a record low, the central India Meteorological Department said in a report.

"The year 2002 was the first all-India drought year after a continuous spell of 14 good monsoons," it said.

"Rainfall deficiency of 49 per cent in the month of July is a case of the worst meteorological drought. Only on two occasions in the past (1911 and 1918) it was over 45 per cent."

IMD defines an "all-India drought year" as one in which rainfall during the southwest monsoon is more than 10 per cent below normal and more than 20 per cent of the country is afflicted by drought.

The country's farm sector depends heavily on the southwest monsoon, which accounts for 80 per cent of the country's annual rainfall.

A good monsoon is crucial to India's economic health as the farm sector accounts for a quarter of gross domestic product and employs about 70 per cent of the country's more than 100 crore (one billion) people.

At the end of the monsoon, 21 of 36 meteorological sub-divisions, covering 56 per cent of the country's land, received deficient or scanty rains, the report said.

A monsoon is termed "deficient" when rainfall is 20 to 59 per cent below normal and "scanty" when it is 60 per cent or more below normal.

India's winter foodgrains output in 2002 is therefore likely to fall by 18 per cent from the previous year to 91 million tonnes, while oilseed production is seen dropping 11.3 percent to 11.7 million tonnes.

The southwest monsoon arrived over Kerala on May 29, three days ahead of schedule, and progressed well in June.

But in July, it lapsed into a weak phase, with most parts of the country remaining dry. It revived in August, but crops in many parts of the country had already been damaged by then.

By September 30, the monsoon had withdrawn from northwest India and parts of western and central India, the report said.

"It does not, however, signal the end of rains in the peninsula, where the southwest monsoon continues up to mid-October," the report said, adding that October to December is the main period for the northeast monsoon, which brings rain to Tamil Nadu.

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