Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, who heads the empowered group of ministers (EGoM) on drought, on Friday said the monsoon situation was not expected to improve in August. In an exclusive interview with Business Standard, he said he would travel to four states — Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat and Rajasthan — between August 1 and 4 to take stock of the impact of deficient rains on production of foodgrains and vegetables. The situation, he said, was the same in Punjab and Haryana and a view on relief measures would be taken at an EGoM meet on Tuesday. “The rainfall situation is likely to be similar in August, according to the information received from the India
Meteorological Department. Besides, the information gathered from a US agency also indicates the same,” he said. Giving details, he said the rainfall deficit in the Kutch and Saurashtra regions of Gujarat was 76 per cent; it was 70 per cent in Haryana and 68 per cent in Punjab. In western Rajasthan, south Karnataka and central Maharashtra, the deficit figures were 61 per cent, 47 per cent and 38 per cent, respectively.
