The India Meteorological Department has said that it expects monsoon deficiency to narrow down in the coming days with improvement in rains in the eastern, central and Indo-Gangetic parts, reports said.
Although the monsoon is not active, it is not sluggish either, reports said citing L.S. Rathore, director-general of the IMD.
He added that the eastern coast, central India and north east are getting fairly good rains. Even Maharashtra and parts of peninsula were experiencing rain.
The monsoon rains will "fill up" the deficiency in coming days, he said. “The only problem is north-west India where rains are poor. That is primarily coarse cereal area,” Rathore said.
According to data from the IMD, the country’s rainfall until Jul 25 was 22% below average.
Overall, the sowing of major kharif (summer) crops like rice, cotton, coarse cereals, oilseeds and pulses has been affected.
Meanwhile, the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on drought, headed by Farm Minister Sharad Pawar, will meet on Tuesday to review the monsoon situation and take ”quick and timely decisions” on policy and other matters for effective management of drought.