As per the Drought Early Warning System run by the IIT, Gandhinagar, over 40 percent of the area in India may face drought. Moreover, in this, close to half the area is observing severe drought. The clear indicators are the deficient Pre Monsoon rains which have been wreaking havoc over the region.
Pre Monsoon rains as of today are 24 percent deficient. Out of which, 61 percent of the area falls under the category of deficient or highly deficient.
Moreover, this is the worst Pre Monsoon season in the last six years or so. The month of March was the poorest with rainfall deficiency of 41 percent, April was better at -22 percent, May has been much better -11 percent. However, the cumulative is -24 percent as of May 29.
During the month of March, North, Central and South India were largely deficit wherein the poor performers in April were the southern and the northeastern regions. The first five days of May gave good rains which reduced the deficiency. At the end of April, cumulative deficiency was increasing to 35 percent.
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Thereafter, the deficiency has been retaining that figure of 24 percent. Major contribution of rains came from Northeast, and South India.
At present, 6 percent area is large excess, with 9 percent being excess, 24 percent is normal and 37 percent is deficient with 24 percent being large deficit.
Cumulatively, Southern India has been the worst performer with 49 percent of rain deficiency. While the onset of Monsoon will cover the regional deficiencies and improve the soil moisture but due to Pre Monsoon rain performance, rural India is under stress with water shortage being observed in many cities.
Image Credit: bbc.co.uk
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