After a week-long dry spell, monsoon likely to revive next week

NEW DELHI: After a week long dry spell, monsoon is likely to revive and bring showers to the rice, oilseeds, pulses and coarse cereal growing states by the mid of next week. Met department says that monsoon activity will soon gather momentum as favourable conditions are building up over Bay of Bengal.

On Thursday, rainfall improved over central India and eastern states bringing heavy downpour in parts of West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha and Maharashtra boosting rice and pulses planting.

Monsoon rains, however, were 22 per cent below average in the week to July 18 against one percent above average rains in the previous week.

"Rains are active in north eastern and eastern states now. Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar will get good rains in the next 24 hours. From next week, rain bearing clouds would move to central and northwestern parts of the country bring rains in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Gujarat. We expect the monsoon to remain active in rest of the period," said a met department official.

This prospective wet session is likely to speed up sowing activity which has been delayed due to deficient rains.

"Rains are crucial for strengthening of the planted crop as well. If monsoon continues to remain active in the central and northwestern parts of the country for the remaining period, crop loss can be reduced to a greater extent," said R S Sharma, senior agri-scientist, Agricultural Policy Research Institute.

Rains at this juncture are also important for the depleting reservoirs and for maintaining soil moisture for rabi crops. The total storage in 84 major reservoirs in the country is 19% of the total capacity as against 32.2% a year ago. There has been not much improvement in

storage since last week when the capacity was 18%.

The storage in the Bhakra dam is barely 22% of capacity, down from 48% at the same time last year. This has forced the Bhakra Beas Management Board to reduce water release by 10% to partnering states, including Punjab and Haryana, where sowing of paddy has already been hit due to deficient rains.