Following a unified approach, an objective criterion has been developed for the determination of yearwise onset and withdrawal dates of the summer monsoon over the 19 subregions across India.

This presentation by B N Goswami, Director, IITM at CSE's South Asian Media Briefing Workshop on Climate Change warns that climate change has affected the monsoon pattern in India & the days of long-duration rains in Central India are almost gone.

The rainfall is an important parameter for the well being of around 1000 million people of the Indian regions. However, certain extreme rainfall events occurring in different seasons cause disastrous situation over some parts.

While occurrences of water bodies (rivers and canals;reservoirs, tanks and ponds; beels, oxbow lakes and derelict water; and brackish water) across the country depend upon physiographic settings and rainfall conditions, the recharging of the water