Poor rain threatens recovery in production this season, sugar prices at three-month high
Experts believe the rising prices may encourage farmers to bring in additional areas for under onion cultivation during the rabi season, which may boost the precious bulb's output, reports Dilip Kumar Jha.
They are worried at more than one forecast of a possibly weak monsoon, reports Dilip Kumar Jha.
55% of cultivable land still doesn't come under irrigation.
This should augur well for the rabi crops as delayed withdrawal will leave enough moisture in the soil for early sowing.
'The answer for a quicker boost to growth is simple -- run a much larger deficit, use the resulting public resources to ensure adequate price support for agriculture, subsidise wage costs of MSMEs and accelerate public sector construction-intensive activities,' advises Nitin Desai.
The mercury breached the 46-degree Celsius mark in several places such as Allahabad (46.8 degrees Celsius) and Jhansi (46.2 degrees Celsius) in Uttar Pradesh; Sports Complex (46.4 degrees Celsius) in Delhi; Ganganagar (46.4 degrees Celsius) in Rajasthan; Nowgong (46.2 degrees Celsius) in Madhya Pradesh; and Maharashtra's Chandrapur (46.4 degrees Celsius).
No part of northwest, central and east India is likely to record a heatwave over the next five days, the MeT office said.
This will be the second year in a row owing to scarce rainfall in 24 of the 38 districts.
The exercise, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said, will help ease any possible impact of sub-par rainfall on farmers.
However, the areas under paddy - the biggest cereal grown during the kharif season - continue to be less than last year, mainly due to delayed onset of rains and also on account of shift towards the more lucrative maize.
Trade and market players have already started factoring in at least 10 million tonnes drop in production in rice in the kharif season as compared to last year due to delayed sowing.
Drought hit Bihar plans to increase the number of days of work from 100 to 150 under the rural job scheme to check migration of the poorest of poor in search of livelihood by providing employment opportunity locally.
Hundreds of people have been evacuated to safer places in eastern Rajasthan after heavy rainfall over the past two days led to a flood-like situation in the region and severed road connectivity to many areas.
The government must prepare for below-normal monsoon.
'After the 4th of May we can expect thunderstorms, dust storms and some rain over a large area of north India.'
Monsoon has missed its date this year with granary states of Punjab and Haryana.
Monsoon has missed its date this year with granary states of Punjab and Haryana.
Allaying apprehensions over the possibility of deficit rainfall this monsoon season, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Monday said it is too early to reach the conclusion that something adverse is happening.
The Central team is here to review the drought situation in the state, where 58 districts have been declared drought-hit.
According to the meteorological analysis of the southwest monsoon between June one and August 24, the country, on the whole, had received one per cent less rainfall than the long period average. Of the 36 meteorological sub-divisions five, including Marathwada, continue to receive deficit monsoon rains.
'The first two months of monsoon are not looking good.' 'In case both the halves fail, it is going to be misery.'
With monsoon rainfall 16% below the long-period average, total sowing area is down by 7% at 56.7 million hectares so far this season.
India now faced a higher likelihood of a drought in some parts, as monsoon rain would be less than predicted in April, private weather forecaster Skymet said on Friday.
The director of CRIDA said deficit rainfall may lead to increase in cultivation of pulses. "Though there is an initial shortfall, the area under pulses cultivation in northern states is likely to increase as it is used as a contingency crop."
For the second successive year, Monsoon is likely to be below normal with parts of north-west and central India to be the most affected.
According to latest data, crops have been sown in around 72.13 million hectares, which is 8.90 per cent less than the same period last year.
The government on Friday said the overall crops conditions have improved with the rainfall in last few days, and the paddy acreage areas are now likely to be down by about 45 lakh hectares.
A 6-7 million tonnes shortfall in rice production due to a fall in paddy sowing area is likely to keep rice prices at elevated levels, adding to the inflationary pressure that the slowing economy is already grappling with. Elevated food prices, including that of cereals, had led to retail inflation reversing a three-month declining trend, to touch 7 per cent in August. Similarly, the wholesale price inflation, which declined to 11-month low, also showed price pressures from cereals resulting from wheat output being impacted by severe heat waves in some parts of the country.
The optimism stems from benign fuel prices, adequate and well distributed rainfall and the recent measures announced by the government to boost liquidity at banks and NBFCs.
The economic think-tank in its earlier projection had suggested that the Indian economy was likely to grow at 5.7 per cent in 2014-15.
According to an IMD forecast issued on Thursday, a heatwave spell will persist over northwest and central India during the next five days and over east India during the next three days.
Scanty rainfall, last year's lockdown, growing competition from Nepal and the disaster of the 2017 Gorkhaland agitation are steadily weakening exports and sales of Darjeeling tea.
NCDEX benchmark index up 10% over a month, as expectations on sowing gather pace
A rise in farm sector is estimated to raise demand for industrial goods and services, it added.
About 60 per cent of net sown area of the country is rain-fed. With every one per cent deficit in rains, the country's gross domestic produce falls by 0.35 per cent.
Irregular rain, input cost pressure prompt price rises by some firms; others to follow.
The IMD attributed the projection to a weakening of El Nio and the Indian Ocean Dipole turning positive.
Incessant rains over the past two days in eastern Rajasthan have led to a flood-like situation in the region and severed road connectivity to many areas.
