Only one meteorological district of the country namely Virudunagar in Tamil Nadu received no rains. The rainfall distribution is better than in 1991 and 1992 and is almost at par with the distributions in 1990, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1998.

Twenty meteorological districts received scanty rainfall and 124 meteorological districts received deficient rainfall. IMD is hopeful that as during the first two months of the monsoon, the country as a whole received 49 per cent of the season's normal rainfall, during the second half of the monsoon season, the rainfall over thecountry will be on the positive side of the normal.

According to the mid-monsoon review of IDM, 31 out of 35 meteorological sub-divisions and 66 per cent districts of the country received excess to normal rainfall till July 31. The situation was better than that in the last five years for the month of June. Rainfall activity, however, remained subdued from the last week of June until middle of July. During this period, the monsoon trough remained close to the Himalayan foothills. There was pronounced rainfall activity over the eastern Himalayas which led to floods in Bihar and the northeastern states.

The week ended July 21 witnessed a spurt in monsoon rainfall activity over India in which 28 out of 35 meteorological sub-divisions registered normal to excess rainfall covering 73 per cent area and 65 per cent of meteorological districts. The rainfall was deficient only in 7 meteorological sub-divisions namely West Rajasthan, Saurashtra and Kutch, east MP, Orissa, Rayalaseema, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry andAndaman & Nicobar Islands. However, the deficiency was marginal in 4 sub-divisions namely west Rajasthan (-5%), east MP (-20%), Orissa (-20%) and Rayalaseema (-23%).

The area-weighted rainfall for the period June 1 to July 31 for the country as a whole is less by only 5 per cent. It is less by 5 per cent over north-west India, less by 9 per cent over peninsular India and less by one per cent over north-east India.

CROP SITUATION - KHARIF RICE: The reported area coverage so far is about 17 lakh hectare as compared to 175 lakh hectare covered in the corresponding period in the previous year. This slackness is mainly due to slow progress of area coverage in MP where it had been lagging by about 10 lakh hectare. However, after recent rains, the area coverage is expected to accelerate. The rice acreage progression is better in West Bengal as compared to last year, indicating some area expansion on account of lesser jute coverage.The transplanting of kharif rice in all rice growing states in in progress.However, in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan the transplanting of rice is almost complete. In Punjab the area covered is more than the normal area (more by about 2 lakh hectare) as well as area covered during the corresponding period of last year. This is partly due to shift in area from cotton.

PULSES: There is an encouraging trend of redgram (arhar) sowing in Karnataka and Maharashtra. The area covered under kharif pulses is 65.8 lakh hectare as compared to 76.7 lakh hectare in the corresponding period of last year. This is mainly due to slow area progression in MP and Rajasthan due to insufficient rains in recent weeks.

COARSE CEREALS: The total area coverage under kharif coarse cereals so far is 132 lakh hectare as against 164 lakh hectare in the corresponding period in the previous year. There has been slow progression of acreage in central and western India. The area coverage under bajra is 47 lakh hectare as against 65 lakh hectare in the corresponding period in the previous year. The acreageprogression is lagging by about 12 hectare in Rajasthan which accounts for country's 50 percent bajra area. The area coverage under jowar so far is 36 lakh hectare as compared to 40 lakh hectare in the corresponding period last year. The area coverage under maize is 44 lakh hectare as against 46 lakh hectare in the corresponding period last year.

OILSEEDS: The sowing of oilseeds has picked up momentum and about 105 lakh hectare is reported to be covered so far as against 123 lakh hectare sown in the corresponding period last year. Sowing of kharif groundnut and soyabean is nearly completed all over the country except that of groundnut in southern states where sowing is in progress. Sowing of sunflower, sesamum, nigerseed and castor seed is in progress. There has been some diversion of area from cotton to sesamum in Andhra Pradesh and Saurashtra. Area coverage under groundnut is about 42 lakh hectare as compared to 47 lakh hectare in the corresponding period last year. Area coverage under soyabean is 47 lakhhectare as compared to 57 lakh hectare in the corresponding period last year.ONION: The area coverage under kharif onion is likely to increase to 79.5 thousand hectare with an estimated production of 9.98 lakh tonne as against area coverage of 76.5 thousand hectare in 1998-99 with a production of 8.65 lakh tonne.

SUGARCANE: The spring planting of sugarcane is complete. The area coverage so far is 39.2 lakh hectare as compared to 39.8 lakh hectare in the corresponding period last year.

JUTE & MESTA: The sowing of jute and mesta is complete. The area coverage under jute is 7 lakh hectare as compared to 8.2 lakh hectare during the corresponding period last year. The area coverage under mesta is 1.9 lakh hectare as compared to 1.7 lakh hectare in the like period last year.COTTON: The normal cotton area is about 90 lakh hectare. The total area coverage so far is about 67 lakh hectare as against 75 lakh hectare in the like period last year.