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| Monsoon advances northwards | |
| Press Trust of India / New Delhi June 29, 2009, 16:18 IST | |
Southwest monsoon today covered entire Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Chhatisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand and many parts of east Uttar Pradesh, bringing relief to millions of people reeling under intense heat for the past few days.
Aided by the low pressure area in the Bay of Bengal, monsoon has covered entire Central India and some parts of Rajasthan and West Uttar Pradesh, India Meteorological Department Director B P Yadav said.
He added the annual rainfall system was expected to cover more parts of North West India in the next two days.
"Conditions are favourable for further advance of southwest monsoon over some more parts of Rajasthan, remaining parts of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and some parts of east Rajasthan and west UP in the next two days," he said.
With the arrival of rains, farmers are expected to begin sowing for the kharif crop, which is crucial for the country's economy.
The western coastal region is expected to receive widespread rainfall during the next two days, thanks to an off-shore trough extending from north Konkan coast to Kerala coast at the mean sea level.
Monsoon rains had reached Kerala coast on May 23, a week ahead of the normal onset date but played a disappearing act soon after cyclone Aila hit parts of Orissa and West Bengal.
Aila also struck a severe blow to the monsoon as it sucked away moisture from the system and brought early rains to parts of West Bengal and the entire north east. But in the process a weakened monsoon failed to make any headway in peninsular India.
Monsoon tottered its way across the peninsular region throughout the month, a process which should have taken just about a week under normal conditions.
The weak monsoon prompted the IMD to downgrade its rain forecast for the season from 96 per cent of the Long Period Average to 93 per cent last week.
However, the weather office said that monsoon rains would cover up the deficit in July and August, key months for agriculture.
The delay in onset of monsoon has made the policymakers worried at a time when they were hoping the farm growth rate to play a key role in propping up the economy in the backdrop of recession.
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