If you thought that the relentless rains in north India will abate in the coming days, you may be wrong, because as per the India Meteorological Department (IMD) latest projections, withdrawal of southwest monsoon from the country will now start from September 30, a good one-month behind its normal withdrawal date.
The IMD had earlier said that southwest monsoon will start withdrawing from Rajasthan from September 15. The late surge in rains could delay harvesting of soybean, cotton and sugarcane crop, which might impact their final yields. Not surprising, that the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has released an elaborate weather guide for the forthcoming Commonwealth Games in national capital Delhi.
The guide lays down the various steps that IMD will take to provide accurate and specific weather-related information for all concerned. It will provide minute- by-minute weather update and also region-specific information for the multi-disciplinary games. Rains in north India has also forced the Bhakra Beas Management Board to discharge 15,000 cusecs of water from the Pong dam for the first time in this monsoon season.
Meanwhile, agency report quoting IMD head Ajit Tyagi said that as of now the met office expects the withdrawal to start from end of this month.
India’s June-September monsoon, which last year delivered the weakest rainfall in 37 years, began on a shaky note this year, but gathered momentum in July and has delivered surplus rainfall this month.
Some parts of India have been hit by floods in recent weeks. While the floods have not significantly damaged crops so far, they have contributed to rising food inflation, which accelerated to 14.64% in August from a year earlier.
Tyagi said heavy showers were expected next week, which may cause floods in some pockets. He added there may be some rainfall in October also. I’m not ruling it out. The probability is there, he said.
The last rainfall remains a concern even for the sugar industry which begins cane crushing by October.
Sugar output in India, the world’s top consumer and second-biggest producer, is set to bounce back after a two-year cyclical dip that helped New York raw sugar futures climb to the highest in 29 years in February. Any setback in sugar output in India would put upward pressure on New York raw sugar futures which touched a 6-month peak on Tuesday.