Residents of Phoenix, Arizona scurried for cover on Tuesday night as a massive desert sandstorm roared through their city.
The aim of the programme is to increase the water table in the stressed areas through dams, ponds, and afforestation. According to a NITI Aayog study, by 2030, the country's water demand is projected to be twice the available supply, implying severe water scarcity for hundreds of millions of people and an eventual 6 per cent loss in the country's GDP.
Rediff.com brings you monsoon images from across the country
Heavy to very heavy rains are expected in Maharashtra, Gujarat, west Madhya Pradesh and Goa in the next couple of days, the India Meteorological Department said.
A prolonged break in monsoon rains in most parts of the country is threatening to hit the yield of kharif crops. It could even delay the upcoming rabi sowing. Major agricultural states, such as Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, and Gujarat, have witnessed a deficit of 30-80 per cent in southwest monsoon rainfall in August compared to the long-period average for the month. Meteorologists see no big revival in monsoon rains from hereon, though they forecast "some activity" over the Bay of Bengal on September 5-6.
Sowing of kharif crops begins with the onset of southwest monsoon from June, while harvesting starts from October. Rice is the main kharif crop, besides bajra, arhar, urad, moong, groundnut and soyabean.
As the southwest monsoon moves slowly across the southern peninsula, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) in its latest report said the overall rainfall during the second week of the four-month season was almost 50 per cent less than normal.
Till Thursday, the country had received 41 per cent less June rainfall than normal -- the scantiest in a decade and one of the rarest occasions when the shortfall in the month was more than 30 per cent -- private weather forecaster Skymet said in its daily weather forecast on Friday.
The India Meteorological Department in its first forecast for 2014 had said southwest monsoon will be below normal at 95 per cent of the long-period average.
The forecast for better rains this seasons comes after India witnessed one of the worst droughts in recent times when the monsoon had failed last year.
India will receive normal monsoon this season, country's meteorological department said on Wednesday in its forecast for the Southwest monsoon that covers 75 per cent of the country, and thereby may bring much-needed respite to the economy, which is reeling under the catastrophic effect of the Covid-19 pandemic.
This piece of forecast from the India Meteorological Department and the European Centre for Medium-Range weather Forecasts may bring cheer to Indian farmers
Waterlogging has been reported in several parts of city.
Among the fatalities recorded on Friday, the maximum 17 were from Uttar Pradesh, 14 from Bihar, five from Odisha and four from Jharkhand, where officials said more than 1,300 people are hospitalised with heatstroke conditions.
In Delhi, Safdarjung, the base station for the national capital, recorded 44.2 degrees Celsius, while Mungeshpur observatory in northwest Delhi, reported 47.3 degrees Celsius.
Met department assures rains are likely to revive from next week
Streets in localities like Hindmata, Dadar, Sion, King's Circle and Wadala are waterlogged. Suburban trains were running slow when reports last came in.
After a significant decline in business in the quarter ended June, leading gold loan companies are set to see a reversal of fortunes. In fact, the recovery already started in August, with a revival in the southwest monsoon.
Rainfall in the week ended August 29 was about six per cent more than normal and the best weekly rains in the southwest monsoon season this year. This helped ease concern on drought across several parts of the country.
Monsoon is likely to reach Maharashtra and Goa in the next two days, the India Meteorological Department said on Monday, with a private weather forecasting agency predicting sustained heavy rains later this week.
Kerala has reported the season's first death due to H1N1 virus ahead of the onset of southwest monsoon as various types of viral fever spread in the state, including a large number of dengue cases.
In Central India, the standing soybean and pulses crops have also been hit but the loss isn't massive as the showers were followed by relatively bright sunshine that helped absorb soil moisture
However, the estimates could change in the coming months, as full impact of excess rainfall and floods on the standing soybean and urad crops in central and western India in late August and September has not yet been fully taken into account.
Relief work gained momentum on Saturday as rainfall came to a halt in many parts of the state. When contacted, a senior official told PTI that 16 people lost their lives in rain-related incidents as per the reports received till Saturday afternoon.
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.
Consumer goods firms and auto companies are witnessing an upturn in rural demand, which had been lagging for most of FY24. Expectations of a bumper rabi crop harvest have helped turn the tide. The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) Monetary Policy Committee kept the repo rate unchanged last week, noting that as rural demand catches up, consumption is expected to support economic growth in 2024-25.
The met department said that rainfall in August is projected to be within the normal range at 97% of LPA. In August and September, India receives around 43 mm of rainfall.
As the kharif season is setting in, India is scrambling to source fertilisers from the international market. It is set to sign long-term contracts - especially with Morocco and Latin American countries - to ensure steady flow of supplies. "We have to source fertilisers wherever it is available because crops have to be secured.
Heavy rains in Mumbai caused major water logging in areas like Lower Parel on Saturday, leaving residents and commuters stranded, and causing a huge traffic gridlock.
In many parts of central and north India, monsoon reaches only in July.
Auto stocks led the rally with Tata Motors, Hero MotoCorp and Maruti Suzuki leading the gains.
Barring Bikaner district, light to moderate rains occurred at all places in the state till Wednesday morning.
'It is the most prone month for the development of cyclones in the pre-monsoon period.'
