New Delhi : Putting all the speculations to rest, the Monsoon has finally picked up pace along the West Coast and parts of Northeast India.
With plentiful showers towards the latter stages of the season, the Monsoon rains are likely to end in India later than usual this year.
The rainfall deficiency that had once peaked at 25 percent on June 17 now stands at 16 percent as on June 25.
With substantial increase in Monsoon rains, it is expected that the farmers will be able to recover from two straight droughts.
Monsoon rains are the lifeblood of India’s agriculture-dependent economy and a week’s delay in their onset this year has caused the planting of summer-sown crops such as cotton, rice, soybean and sugar cane to drop by nearly 24 percent.
“The monsoon has remained 15 percent lower than average in June, but the deficit is expected to narrow in the days to come,” said an official.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also singled out good rains as one of the factors helping India when Britain’s vote to leave the European Union is roiling world markets.
Monsoon rains typically arrive at the southern coast of Kerala state by June 1 and start retreating by September from the western state of Rajasthan.
But a late start is no guarantee of a delayed end as it states a possibility that the terminal phase will be wetter and the withdrawal will be later than normal. (ANI)