NEW DELHI: Southwest (summer) monsoon started withdrawing from some parts of west Rajasthan Sunday against the normal date of Sept 17, IMD said. Normally, the withdrawal process ends on Oct 15 – a few days ahead of onset of winter monsoon in Peninsular India.It’s the earliest withdrawal of monsoon since 2015, when the retreat began on Sept 4, under the old regime where normal date of beginning of withdrawal used to be Sept 1 based on records during 1901-1940. This is also the earliest withdrawal since 2020 under the new regime when the normal date was revised as Sept 17 based on data during 1971-2019. There is also no change in the final withdrawal date over south India (Oct 15). The normal withdrawal date for Delhi is Sept 25. Though early onset/withdrawal or coverage has nothing to do with overall status of the monsoon, it certainly guides farming activities, and water and hydro-power management during the rainy season.
This year, early onset helped farmers begin early sowing of kharif (summer) crops. And good rainfall in most parts of the country helped increase total acreage (1,105 lakh hectares), which is more than last year (1,078 lakh hectares) and more than normal acreage (1,096 lakh hectares) for kharif. Early withdrawal by just three days will, however, not impact the acreage as the sowing has already been completed in the country. All key reservoirs too have enough water to sustain rabi (winter) crops. IMD also predicted conditions are favourable for its withdrawal from some more parts of Rajasthan, Punjab and Gujarat during next 2-3 days. Meanwhile, heavy to very heavy rainfall is predicted over northeastern states and Maharashtra for next three days. Except east and North-East that faced a cumulative rainfall deficit of nearly 20%, the rest of the country received surplus rainfall. Central India received 10.5% more than normal rainfall and south peninsular got 7.5% more than normal rainfall this monsoon season.
