Cheers! Monsoon hits Andamans three days early

The monsoon hit the Andamans islands on Monday, its first port of call in a four-month trip across India, three days early and is expected to reach Kerala’s tail end by May 30. Zia Haq reports.

The monsoon hit the Andamans islands on Monday — its first port of call in a four-month trip across India — three days early and is expected to reach Kerala’s tail end by May 30.

HT Image

“The onset of monsoon over the Bay of Bengal has begun. It will accelerate and hit Indian mainland soon,” Met chief Ajit Tyagi told Hindustan Times.

A normal monsoon was forecast on April 23, raising hopes of an upturn in the farm economy hammered by last year’s drought, the worst in three decades.

“The monsoon will then branch out into two paths, one over the Arabian Sea and the other over Bay of Bengal. Both bring rains for India,” G.C. Debnath, director of Regional Meteorological Centre in Kolkata told HT over phone.

Adequate rains will cool food prices, which had risen the highest in 11 years on December 5 last year at 19.95 per cent.

Food inflation in the 12 months to May 1 was 16.44 per cent.