New Delhi: Even as it makes steady progress over the rest of the country, the monsoon appears to be playing hide and seek with Delhi, which might have to wait at least another week

SOUTHWEST monsoon appears to be picking up pace as the weather office on Monday claimed that about 80% of the country has been covered by the seasonal rains which are expected to drench northwest India in the next two days.

Aided by the low pressure area in the Bay of Bengal, monsoon has covered entire central India and some parts of Rajasthan and west Uttar Pradesh.

Deficient rains imply not only a drop in crop production and consequently incomes, but also a serious shortage of drinking water and animal fodder, resulting in rural-urban migration and growing pressure on urban spaces.

New Delhi: Real-time weather forecast may soon become a reality for Delhiites as the meteorological office has geared up to install hi-tech instruments at various locations in and around the capital.

Karnataka Bureau

SHIMOGA/KARWAR: All hydel power generating plants in the State will come to a standstill for the first time if the monsoon fails to become active within a week.

J. Balaji

NEW DELHI: Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Sunday allayed fears about the country facing a drought this year. Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) announced that the south-west monsoon was likely to resume over the remaining parts of central India and some parts of north-west India after July 1.

This year the southwest monsoon set in early over Kerala and got off to a dramatic, if unpropitious, start. Cyclone Aila swept in from the Bay of Bengal and wreaked havoc, including much loss of life, in West Bengal and neighbouring Bangladesh. Thereafter, the monsoon went into a slump and its progress northwards has been tardy.

The coming week will be cruicial for the country

AMIT AGNIHOTRI
NEW DELHI

June 25: The government is not pressing the panic button despite a rain-deficient June riding on the hope that the delayed monsoon will not affect its food stocks.