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The southwest monsoon in 2018 ended with a rainfall deficiency of 9 per cent of the long-period average, which is regarded as normal. That also makes it the third straight year of normal rainy season.
Yet, distribution (both, across time and regions) has been patchy with a deficiency in pockets. June rains covered most parts of the country except north-west and east.
In the east rains stayed deficient throughout ending the season at 24 per cent deficiency. In the north-west, rains caught up in September but played truant in key kharif growing states of Gujarat, Haryana and Punjab in the
