El Nino to blame for drought, deficient rain

Even as the monsoon for the current year draws to an end, authorities at the India Meteorological Department (IMD) here say there is a deficient rainfall of 12 per cent at the national level. Reason? The El Nino phenomenon has struck the Pacific Ocean.

Worse, even the drought earlier may have been caused due to El Nino. According to IMD officials, it has occurred within a very short gap after 2002. M. Rajeevan, Director for Long Range Forecast (LRF) at IMD, says: ‘‘The El Nino developed over June, July and August this year, coinciding with India’s monsoon.” Thus the monsoon remained deficient in many parts due to rising temperatures over the Pacific. ‘‘Even a slight rise in temperature over this zone affects Indian monsoon quite a a lot,’’ he said.