Ahmedabad, 21 August 2014

Gujarat is hot and humid and monsoon is on halt here since a fortnight or so. Ahmedabad office of Indian Meteorological Department(IMD) says there’s no chance of rain during rest of the part of August, but scattered rains are possible in parts of Gujarat in September and even in October, looking at previous experience.

It should be mentioned that the state government is also concerned about a long halt of rain. Recently when minister Nitin Patel visited ISKCON temple in Ahmedabad on occasion of Janmashtami, he told media persons that he prayed for good rain in state.

Gujarat has so far received average 57.50% rain of normal average monsoon season. There are many talukas that have received less than 25% rain of the season. Lakhpat(15.37%), Rapar(19.07%), Abdasa(22.41%), Shankheshwar(23.96%), Santalpur(24.33%), Suigam(18.38%), Tharad(13.29%), Galteshwar(24.48%), Bhabhar(22.79%), Quant(22.05%),

It has to be noted that India’s rainfall was a quarter below average in the week to 20 August, the second straight week of deficiency after a revival in early August. The monsoon rains weakened across the nation last week, except in a few parts of North India, which saw flooding due to heavy rains in the Himalayas. The annual monsoon rains are vital for the farm dependent Indian economy as over half of its farm lands lack irrigation.