Amid floods all around, 11% of India is facing drought

New Delhi: Even as several states are experiencing excessive rainfall and flood-like situation, about 10.7% of the country is facing severe, extreme and exceptional drought-like conditions, according to India Drought Monitor, a website focusing on weather incidents in India, operated by Water and Climate Lab IIT Gandhinagar.

These areas are mainly in Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Odisha, according to the portal developed by professor Vimal Mishra and his Water and Climate Lab. Several of these areas lie in the Gangetic plains, known for being the food bowl of India.

"The soil moisture is lower than the average of past nine years in Bihar, West Bengal, some parts of Odisha and Jharkhand," an agriculture ministry official said on condition of anonymity, adding that there has been some improvement in soil moisture content in southern part of Haryana, Punjab and eastern part of Uttar Pradesh compared to the situation in early August.


According to data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD), while 41% of districts received normal rainfall till September, 26% have got either deficient rains or 'large deficient' rainfall.

About 24% districts received excessive rains and 9% 'large excessive', according to data from the official weather office, causing floods in several states such as Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Gujarat.

India is likely to receive above-average rainfall in September and a delayed withdrawal of monsoon, according to the weather office, causing concern for kharif crops such as pulses, oilseeds and other horticulture crops which could get delayed due to excessive rains.

The rainfall in September is likely to be more than 109% of the 50-year average with above-normal rainfall over most parts of India, except some parts of the extreme northern India, many parts of south peninsular India and most parts of northeast India, where normal to below-normal rainfall is likely, according to the IMD.

The southwest monsoon, which starts from June and continues till September, brings almost 70% of the rain that India needs to water farms and replenish reservoirs and aquifers. However, erratic rains, which lead to either deficiency or excessive and prolonged rainfall, can damage standing crops, lowering the overall productivity.