Monsoon to cover most of India by July 2

After a two-week lull,the monsoon is finally showing signs of recovery in the next two-three days. It promises to bring good rainfall in most parts of the country this month-end.

After a two-week lull,the monsoon is finally showing signs of recovery in the next two-three days. It promises to bring good rainfall in most parts of the country this month-end. Weather scientists predict that the monsoon will gain strength from June 25 onwards and is expected to cover almost the whole of India,except the northern and northwestern parts of the country,by July 2.

The Agriculture Ministry has been worried because a further delay in the monsoon would have seriously affected the sowing of kharif crops in most parts of the country. As of now,the sowing of the paddy crop is still on track,despite the two-week delay in the monsoon in peninsular and central India,but there is some concern on account of low sowing of pulses,oilseeds and sugar.

Pulses and oilseeds are grown primarily in rain-fed regions,which have seen deficient rainfall so far. According to the data for crop sowing,there was marginal decline in the sowing of oilseeds (particularly groundnut) and pulses (particularly moong) till the end of last week.

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In the case of oilseeds,only 4.14 lakh hectare area was sown till the end of last week as against 5.02 lakh hectare during the same period last year. In the case of pulses,the area coverage declined marginally from 1.883 lakh hectares for the end of previous week last year to 1.812 lakh hectares during the corresponding period this year.

The decline in oilseeds was mainly due to decline in the sowing of groundnut,which declined substantially from 2.39 lakh hectares last year to barely 1.08 lakh hectares till the end of last week this kharif season. In case of pulses,the decline in sowing is mainly due to moong,which came down from 0.87 lakh hectares last year to 0.57 lakh hectares so far this season.

However,July promises to compensate for the deficient rainfall this month,and experts are of the view that no serious damage will be caused to the crops if it rains well in July.

The monsoon,which had stagnated over southern peninsular region for more than two weeks,is looking to make a strong surge northwards from June 25,promising to bring good rain not only in the coastal regions of Maharashtra and Karnataka but also in the interior areas. A low-pressure area on the east coast is seen to be developing around June 28 which is likely to pull the monsoon winds towards the eastern and northeastern parts of the country. Scientists predict that this strong surge is likely to sustain for at least one week and cause rainfall in Madhya Pradesh,Chhattisgarh,Bihar,Jharkhand,Orissa,northeast Maharashtra and parts of Gujarat and UP by July 2,till when the forecast is available.

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However,the entire Gangetic plain,Delhi,Rajasthan,Punjab and Himachal Pradesh will have to wait for some more time.