Monsoon taking Y-shape; Bihar, Jharkhand, UP in long term negative trend
By S Jha
New Delhi, July 27: India needs to worry at the Monsoon’s Y-shaped pattern, as the central parts of the country remain parched, while the eastern and the western states are reeling under flood like situations.
Highly populated States such as Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh have seen scant rains in the ongoing Monsoon season even while the water-intensive Kharif sowing season is at its peak.
The government on Wednesday told the Parliament that five states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Meghalaya and Nagaland have shown significant decreasing trends in southwest monsoon rainfall during the recent 30 years period (1989-2018).
“The annual rainfall over these five states along with the states of Arunachal Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh also show significant decreasing trends. Other states do not show any significant changes in southwest monsoon rainfall during the same period” said the Union Minister for Science and Technology Jeetendra Singh.
The government has said that the Monsoon rainfall had been normal at 92 per cent of the Long Period Average (LPA)] during June 2022, for the country as a whole.
The LPA of the rainfall for the month of June being 165.4 mm based on the data of 1971-2020. The rainfall in June is said to be normal if it is within 92 per cent to 108 per cent of LPA.
In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Singh informed about the early onset of southwest monsoon and said, this is an inherent property observed in the inter-annual variability of Monsoon behaviour.
A few weeks ago the excess rains in the Northeastern parts of the country, including Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, played havoc with floods causing heavy damage to the people and the livestocks.
Similar situation is being seen in Gujarat, Rajasthan and other western parts of the country.
The southern parts of the country, including Telangana and Karnataka, have received heavy rainfalls even while Tamil Nadu and Kerala have seen deficient rainfalls.
This year the Monsoon onset over Kerala was on May 29 against the normal date of June 1, three days ahead of normal date, and it has covered the entire country on July 2, against the normal date of July 8, six days ahead of the normal date.
During June, the Central India was 30 per cent deficient in the rainfalls, while East and Northeast India saw 22 per cent more rains.
From July 1 to July 20, the rainfalls in the Central parts of India were 30 per cent in excess from the normal.
July is known to be the critical month for Monsoon rains, as the Kharif sowing is dependent on the extent of rains.
“Considering district-wise rainfall, there are many districts in the country, which show significant changes in southwest monsoon and annual rainfall during the recent 30 years period (1989-2018). With regard to the frequency of heavy rainfall days, significant increasing trend is observed over Saurashtra and Kutch, South-eastern parts of Rajasthan, Northern parts of Tamil Nadu, Northern parts of Andhra Pradesh and adjoining areas of Southwest Odisha, many parts of Chhattisgarh, Southwest Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Manipur, Mizoram, Konkan and Goa and Uttarakhand,” Singh told the Lok Sabha.
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