But all's not well, as rain floods fields due to lack of proper irrigation system in many districts Tikamgarh District (Madhya Pradesh): When the train pulled out of Delhi station on June 12, Sukhram felt something tug at his heart. The migrant labourer was going home to his two children but had little to take back to them. The thought of his parched, sun-baked land in Kaluguan

Insufficient rain in the central, southern and western parts of the country could hit kharif crop, a leading economist has said. "Kharif crops received insufficient rain in prominent cropping zones like Assam, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Going forward, the southern states and central India may witness low rain hampering the growth of Kharif crops further,' NCDEX economist Shraddha Umarji said here.

Monsoon in Punjab has generally been good and covered most of parts of the state. This year monsoon arrived nearly 15 days early, but it was well distributed in June. This rain has been beneficial for the transplantation of paddy, and also for sugarcane and horticultural crops. For cotton and some vegetable crops, it has not been so good.

According to Agro-Meteorology Department experts of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) here, normal rainfall for June was 66.4 mm, but June 2008, recorded the highest rainfall of 277.3 mm in 40 years at Ludhiana.

flood Early monsoon hits India annual monsoon swept through India about two weeks early. But it brought heavy rains causing floods and landslides in eastern India. Unconfi-rmed sources say at least 52 people have been killed and over 3 million affected in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Orissa, Jharkhand and West Bengal. As on June 20, Subarnrekha river in Orissa was flowing above the danger

The inflation rate touched a 13-year high of 11.05 per cent for the week ended June 7, 2008. The big question now is: will the projected above-normal monsoon this year result in a bumper kharif harvest and a softening of food prices? Says B.P. Yadav, Director, Indian Meteorological Department: "We are anticipating a regular monsoon season this year with surplus rains in some parts of the country.'

GANDHINAGAR: Faced with sparse rainfall, the Gujarat government has decided to wait for another week, in the hope that the flagging monsoon would revive during this period, before taking a call on declaring the state drought-hit. A special meeting held by agriculture minister Dilip Sanghani observed that there was "nothing to worry about delay in rains as of now'. However, if the monsoon remains elusive for another week, an action plan to fight an impending drought will be announced.

Cloud-seeding operations to commence within 10 days Water to be released this week from projects to an ayacut of 4 lakh acres 7-hour power supply to be ensured to agriculture HYDERABAD: Appealing to the people not to panic over the dry spell prevailing in Andhra Pradesh, the government has announced a plan of action to combat the outcome of deficit rainfall.

The monsoon should have been in full swing across Andhra Pradesh in the first week of July. But a prolonged dry spell has raised fears of a failed monsoon with 37 to 47 per cent deficient rainfall and failed crops. Three regions

Farmers of Gwalior-Chambal region, who were facing drought-like conditions for the last four year, this year are a happy lot as the rains have come in abundance. Due to heavy rains in Bhind district, rivers including Chambal, Bainsli and Kwari are in spate. The farmers here are happy as they would be able to do agriculture in a better way. They are preparing to sow kharif crops. However, the farmers who had completed sowing during light rains are a little worried. The heavy rains in Bhind district have claimed four lives and it is essential to provide relief to the kin of those killed.

Meena Menon MUMBAI: Very poor rainfall in Maharashtra has led to the State announcing that it is experiencing conditions akin to scarcity, according to a review by the Cabinet on Wednesday. Sixteen districts in the State have received rainfall below 50 per cent till July 8. The water storage in reservoirs is only 22 per cent against 47 per cent last year.