Monsoon to be weak, PMO in a crisis mode; asks MHA Cabinet secretary for solutions

New Delhi: Already facing an agrarian crisis, there is bad news in store for India with a “deficient” monsoon predicted this year, raising fears of a drought in parts of the country.

The Prime Minister’s Office has gone into overdrive, drawing up contingency plans till district level to deal with a drought, worried at a spiralling effect on all sectors.

The Cabinet Secretary and the MHA disaster management division have been tasked with putting in place detailed plans and out-of-the-box solutions to tackle crop losses.

Earth sciences minister Harsh Vardhan, giving the revised forecast for the 2015 monsoons, said on Tuesday: “I have to say with a heavy heart that as per our revised forecast, India will receive 88 per cent of rainfall of the Long Period Average, plus or minus four per cent.”

The southwest monsoon is also delayed, and may now hit the Kerala coast on June 5.

Though the normal date for onset of monsoon over Kerala is June 1, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) had predicted that it will hit the southern state on May 30 this year.

June 1 also marks the official onset of rains in the country. “Conditions are becoming favourable for the onset of southwest monsoon over Kerala around June 5,” said an IMD statement.

Last year too, monsoon was delayed and hit the Kerala coast on June 6.