Monsoon continues to elude Delhi, hits sowing of Kharif crops in north India

According to the latest forecast by the IMD, heavy to very heavy rains at isolated places is expected over several parts of north India including Delhi by Monday.

New Delhi: Many places in north India received showers on Sunday but the long-delayed monsoon missed yet another date with Delhi and its adjoining areas which were kept waiting for rains. According to the latest forecast by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), heavy to very heavy rains at isolated places is expected over several parts of north India including Delhi by Monday (July 12, 2021) morning.

As the national capital waits for the wet spells, the southwest monsoon wind system has brought a little relief from the unforgiving heat in the city. Earlier, IMD had said monsoon would hit parts of North India on July 10, but it failed to reach the capital and its adjoining areas till Sunday evening.

While talking on the subject, IMD Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra had said that the conditions are ripe for the advancement of the Southwest Monsoon over Delhi, where the humidity has also increased due to easterlies. He also added that the formation of a low-pressure area will also boost its advancement.

“We are expecting light rainfall on Sunday and a good spell on Monday,” he said.

The IMD said, “Heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely at isolated places over Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi, the Gujarat region, Madhya Maharashtra, coastal Andhra Pradesh and Yanam, Telangana, coastal and south interior Karnataka, Kerala and Mahe and Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal.”

The weather department has also issued rainfall alerts for several north Indian states and a red warning for coastal Maharashtra.

The Met department’s bulletin also predicted that heavy rainfall is expected at isolated places over Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh, Gilgit-Baltistan and Muzaffarabad, west Uttar Pradesh, east Rajasthan, west Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim, Odisha, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Saurashtra and Kutch, Marathwada, Rayalaseema, north interior Karnataka and Lakshadweep.

The IMD prediction also added that thunderstorms accompanied by lightning and gusty winds (with a speed of 30-40 kilometres per hour) are very likely at isolated places over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Telangana.

“Lightning at isolated places is also expected over Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh, Gilgit-Baltistan and Muzaffarabad, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Vidarbha, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, central Maharashtra, Marathwada, coastal Andhra Pradesh and Yanam, Rayalaseema and Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal by Monday morning,” the IMD added.

Additionally, the delay in monsoon is now affecting agriculture as well. According to a report in a leading news daily, the planting of kharif crops has been hit due to the scattered rainfall in many parts of the country. The southwest monsoon, which is showing a seasonal deficit of more than 5 percent, is affecting the sowing of the summer-sown crops. 

The report also added that monsoon is critical for Asia’s third-largest economy. In India, nearly 60 percent of the country’s net-sown area doesn’t have access to irrigation and half of the population depends on a farm-derived income. The deficit rains not only affect the agriculture system but also the power supply,  reservoirs and drinking water supply. 

“July rainfall is the most critical during the four-month kharif season. In areas where irrigation is not available, there will be impact in sowing..,” the report quoted Jeet Singh Sandhu, vice-chancellor of the SKN Agricultural University, Jaipur, as saying.