(a) whether it has come to the notice of his Ministry that almost 235 districts in the country’s 630 districts face monsoon deficit of 20 per cent or more;
(b) if so, the details of districts so affected, State-wise; and
(c) the factors that are responsible for deficit rainfall and the manner in which the Government is planning to address this problem?
THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES
(SHRI Y. S. CHOWDARY)
(a) Yes Madam. However, the number of districts which faced deficient rainfall during the 2017 monsoon season are 215 out of a total number of 660 districts.
(b) A list of State-wise districts with deficient rainfall (-20% to -99%) is given in Annexure.
(c) The rainfall activity during the monsoon season depends upon the formation of weather systems within the monsoon current. The monsoon flow pattern had been comparatively weaker in the second half of the monsoon season 2017 and the number of low pressure areas formed during August & September, 2017 had been less than the normal number expected. This has contributed towards the less than Long Period Average (LPA) rainfall for the country as a whole during August & September (87% of the LPA only) which has reflected in the district rainfall scenario also. However, IMD is issuing five days weather based district level agromet advisories to about 24 million registered farmers twice in a week to help farmers in their day to day farming operations.