Monsoon revives in central, southern India: IMD

New Delhi: Monsoon rains have revived in theworst-hit central India and southern peninsula regions that would help boost kharif crops and water level in reservoirs, a top official of MeT Department said on Wednesday.

Monsoon deficit has been at 12 per cent so far this season (June 1 to September 2). However, the rain deficit in the southern peninsula and central India was 22 per cent and 16 per cent, respectively, according to India Meteorological Department (IMD) data.

Southern peninsula comprises of states like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala, while Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Gujarat are part of central India.

"Monsoon rains have already revived from today in south peninsula and central India. More rains are likely in this region as pressure is building in the Bay of Bengal and moving into inland by September 15," IMD Director General L S Rathore told reporters.

Revival in rains augur well for kharif crops and would also help narrow rainfall deficit in September, he said.

The rain deficit in September is 50 per cent. Rathore said that overall monsoon deficit for June- September period is expected to be 12-14 per cent below normal as projected earlier.

Water level in reservoirs in southern peninsula is very low and revival in rains will help, he added.

"For the country as a whole, cumulative rainfall during monsoon season till September 2 has so far been 12 per cent below the Long Period Average (LPA). Rainfall activity was

less than normal in all the broad homogeneous regions of India except east and northeast India, where it was near normal," IMD had said in a statement last week.

MeT department had forecast that the season (June to September) rainfall over the country as a whole is likely to be 88 per cent (?4 per cent) of LPA.

Agriculture, which contributes about 15 per cent to the country's GDP and employs more than half of the population, is dependent on monsoon as only 40 per cent of the cultivable area is under irrigation.

Despite deficit rains, the total sowing area under kharif crops as on September 4 was at 998.67 lakh hectares compared with 979.40 lakh hectares in the year-ago period. Sowing of pulses has increased 11 per cent while paddy acreage has risen marginally by over 1 per cent so far.