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India Meteorological Department forecasts above-normal monsoon this year

Xinhua, April 13, 2016 Adjust font size:

In a major relief to farmers across India, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) Tuesday predicted country would receive good rainfall this year.

According to the department, the southwest monsoon rainfall will be above normal in 2016.

"The monsoon rainfall is likely to be 106 percent of the Long Period Average," Director General of IMD Laxman Singh Rathore told reporters here. "This year the rainfall will be six percent more than normal which was 14 percent deficient last year.

India's agriculture is mainly dependent on monsoons. The information from IMD has come as a harbinger of hope for farmers in several states that are facing severe drought and acute shortage of water.

Several states in India are currently under the grip of intense heatwave. The soaring temperatures have claimed over 100 lives in southern states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Officials said the usual April rains have been delayed in these two states, pushing mercury upwards at 45 degrees Celsius.

Temperatures have risen unusually in the first week of April with several parts of the country (Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, eastern Rajasthan, parts of Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal) recording deviations of more than 5 degrees Celsius.

Authorities have ordered closure of schools in several parts and advised people to avoid exposure to the sun during the afternoon.

Weather officials attribute the early onset of heat to after-effects of the weather phenomenon El Nino (an irregularly occurring and complex series of climatic changes) that caused poor monsoon last year.

"The El-Nino conditions are weakening which is good for monsoon. The good rainfall will be a boon for the farmers who faced two deficient rainfall years consecutively," Rathore said.

Two successive poor monsoons have triggered drought like situation in the western state of Maharashtra's Marathwada region, causing scarcity of drinking water and failure of crops.

Officials say dams in the region are left with just five percent of water ahead of the summer season.

Last year, 3228 farmers in Maharashtra committed suicide, the highest since 2001, according to information provided by a minister in Indian parliament recently.

Authorities Tuesday brought half a million liters of drinking water to the worst affected Latur in Maharashtra using special train. Endit