With 97% rain, India gets 'normal' monsoon after 3 years

With India receiving 97 per cent rainfall between June and September, the monsoon was "normal" this year, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Thursday.

While monsoon has ended in most parts of the country, experts believe that it would end entirely within the next 48 hours.

"This year, rainfall has been very constructive and very good both in terms of time-frame and area. Especially from the agriculture point of view, distribution of rain was as required," a senior IMD official told IANS.

As per the IMD report, the rainfall during the monsoon season over the country as a whole was 97 per cent of its long period average (LPA). The average seasonal rainfall over northwest India was 95 per cent, in central India 106 per cent, in southern peninsula 92 per cent and in northeast India 89 per cent.

Monsoon is considered normal between 96 and 104 per cent.

"The rainfall this year also gave a boost to the agriculture. For an instance, if a farmer requires rainfall for an entire week, then this year's rainfall was supportive to that extent," the official added.

India this year received good rainfall after two years of crisis and one of the worse droughts faced by the country in decades.

The IMD official reported that 72 per cent of the total area of the country received normal rainfall, 13 per cent area received excess rainfall and 15 per cent received deficient seasonal rainfall.

Regions that received deficient rainfall include Assam, Meghalaya, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, parts of Gujarat, coastal and southern Karnataka, Kerala and Lakshadweep. The deficiency ranged between 25 and 30 per cent.

The officials said the monsoon withdrawal began since September 15 from west Rajasthan, followed by September 28 in northwest regions and October 5 from most of the northern regions.

--IANS

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