Troubled times for AP, TS

Met Dept forecasts 'below normal' rainfall this year On one hand, there will be ‘No Achche Din’ for Modi Sarkaar and on the othe...

Met Dept forecasts 'below normal' rainfall this year

On one hand, there will be ‘No Achche Din’ for Modi Sarkaar and on the other, there will be more troubled times for Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, which are already at loggerheads over river waters

New Delhi: In keeping with the early signals, the Indian Meteorological Department on Wednesday forecast a ‘below normal’ rainfall for the four-month monsoon season of June to September. The Met department has predicted that India will get about 93% of its long term average rainfall during the monsoons this year. It said there was a 35 per cent probability that the rainfall would remain between 90 to 96 per cent, which is classified as ‘below normal’.

On the one hand this means that ‘No Achche Din’ for Modi sarkaar and, on the other - and closer home -  more troubled times for the governments of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, which are at loggerheads over everything since the bifurcation.The political forecast of this means an escalation of water disputes between the now divided Telugu states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. On record, when Union Earth Sciences Minister Harsh Vardhan said, "Monsoon rainfall is seen at 93% of the long-term average in 2015", there was no smile on his face. 

The probability quotient also did not have any cheering news as it is quite feeble at only 28 per cent. In addition, a much higher percentage figure of 35, predicted that it would remain below normal. With dissatisfaction amongst the farmers brewing in the country over unseasonal rains that have destroyed standing crops in huge tracts of land across, the current prediction only means a much bleak future for the farmers and rough times ahead for the governments politically. The Met had already confirmed that weak El-Nino conditions are prevailing over the pacific.