New Delhi: The onset of the southwest monsoon over the south Indian state of Kerala has been delayed amid the “sluggish” pace of rain clouds.
The normal date for onset of monsoon over Kerala is June 1. It also marks the official onset on rains across the country. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) had predicted that the monsoon would hit Kerala on May 30.
According to Skymet, a private forecasting agency, the monsoon arrived over the Andaman and Nicobar Islands on May 16, three days prior to the date forecast. Since then, however, its advance has been slow. By May 21, the southwest monsoon advanced over the Bay of Bengal touching southern parts of Sri Lanka but has stagnated since.
“The Arabian Sea branch of the southwest monsoon made very slow advance and is yet to reach the extreme southern tip [Kerala] of India. Cloud build-up on either side of the sea was looking promising till a few days back for the timely onset over Kerala. However, it slowed down as the cloud pattern became a little diffused and unorganised,” Skymet said.
The IMD, while refusing to call it a delayed monsoon, has said that the progress of rain clouds was sluggish. “As per our forcast, there is difference of four days, which is from May 27 to June 3.
“At this moment, monsoon has already entered the Arabian Sea, crossed Sri Lanka and entered the Bay of Bengal. We are closely monitoring its progress. During the progress of monsoon, it is often observed that its pace varies,” said Krishnanand Hosalikar, Deputy Director, IMD.
But pre-monsoon rain is still being observed in Karnataka and Kerala.
“In the last 24 hours, Karnataka has observed good rainfall. Kerala too experienced good rains on May 28 with Pampakuda in Ernakulam district recording 55mm of rains. Udayanampuram in Kottayam district received 37mm of rains while Mundathicode in Thrissur observed 30mm of rainfall.
“On May 29, the rainfall activity in Kerala became minimal with isolated places receiving very light rain.
“However, in the last 24 hours, some rainfall has been observed in the state but the weather activity has been patchy in nature, which is not the characteristic of monsoon,” Skymet added.
The timely onset of the south-west monsoon is crucial for sowing of kharif (summer) crops such as paddy and a deficit in rainfall may hit output.
Agriculture, which contributes only 15 per cent to India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) but employs about 60 per cent of population, is heavily dependent on the monsoon as only 40 per cent of the cultivable area is under irrigation.
Last year, the country had received 12 per cent less rains, which hit production of grains, cotton and oilseeds.
Agriculture growth stood at 0.2 per cent in 2014-15 fiscal.
According to the government’s estimate, total foodgrains production has declined to 251.12 million tonnes in 2014-15 crop year (July-June) from a record production of 265.04 million tonnes last year.
