Monsoon to stay for longer duration

You can expect more rainy days in September with the government estimating a delay in withdrawal of monsoon, which has revived in the last one week after playing hide and seek till middle of August.

You can expect more rainy days in September with the government estimating a delay in withdrawal of monsoon, which has revived in the last one week after playing hide and seek till middle of August.

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The monsoon starts withdrawing from north-west India from first week of September but agriculture secretary Ashish Bahuguna expected delay because of emergence of Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), also known as Indian Nino.

It means unusual warming of Indian Ocean surface resulting in stronger monsoon showers.

But, it is too early to predict whether the September rainfall would be as consistent as it had been in the last one week.

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) expects El Nino - warming of Pacific that can cause drought and flood - could weaken the September rainfall.

Bahuguna, however, said El Nino will have no major impact because of strong IOD.

The late monsoon showers have brought relief for the government with drought like conditions easing in most parts of India including Gujarat, Karnataka and Maharashtra.

The government believes that agriculture growth can be in positive after estimating a flat growth because of drought like conditions.

The IMD has forecasted more rains in these states along with entire northern India in the next two weeks.

"Rainfall would occur at most places Uttarakhand, Delhi, Haryana and West Uttar Pradesh apart from north-eastern parts and peninsular India," said the IMD's forecast released on Thursday.

Although the August rainfall has improved agriculture prospects Bahuguna expected the crop health to improve further with September rainfall.

Total area under kharif crops is down at 32.9 million hectare as on August 24, against 34.2 million hectare in the same period last year.

The rainfall deficiency for the country as a whole has reduced significantly - from 19% below average in the first two months (June/July) of the season, to 13% below average as on August 27, the IMD said.