Government allays drought fears as monsoon deficit reduces

New Delhi: With India's rain deficit gradually narrowing down, the Centre on Monday expressed hope the country would escape the drought-like situation that was apprehended earlier due to sub-normal monsoon and said none of the states has so far requested it to declare drought in their regions.

“The monsoon deficit has come down. As per the Met department, monsoon rains are good so far and are likely to be good in the coming days (August-September),“ agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh said, adding it will help complete sowing operations in many parts of the country .

Asked whether drought concerns still exist in some parts of the country in view of erratic distribution of rains, Singh said, “So far, no state government has written to us that they have declared drought in a particular region. We give assistance to states only when they declare drought. We are ready to help them. Even states have separate funds to utilize for this purpose.“ Though agriculture ministry officials said the worst was over with the revival of monsoon in the later part of July , Singh did not say so in as many words. The Centre has, in any case, not lowered its guard and asked states to get back in case of any sign of drought.

The IMD has said rain deficit has come down from 43% on July 13 to 25% on July 23. It also expects that rains will pick up further in August.

Though overall rainfall would still be below normal due to huge deficit in June, it may not adversely impact the kharif crop in a big way . The revival of monsoon in July in northern and central parts of the country has improved sowing operations in three weeks. Total acreage covered under kharif crops remained lower as sowing could not begin in many parts of the country in June.