Admitting that delayed monsoon is posing a serious problem, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Friday acknowledged the worrying situation in prominent paddy-growing regions in the north. Pawar told Rajya Sabha: “The real and serious problem is essentially in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, western UP, parts of Bihar and Himachal Pradesh. The problem is serious throughout India, but particularly in these regions it is more serious.”

Pawar said the government had got a “contingency plan” prepared for kharif crop to tackle the problem of deficient rains and has provided additional seeds to state governments. “We have prepared two plans. One is normally prepared prior to monsoon. Under this plan, we provide seeds, fertilisers, pesticides to all states. This has been done. The second contingency plan is prepared when sowing operation is complete. Suppose there is no rain, the farmer will have to sow again. In such a situation, we require additional seeds. The second plan is also ready,” Pawar said. “Right now, we are going ahead with the first plan and I hope the situation will improve,” he added, pointing towards improvement in some other regions in the last one week. He expressed hope regarding improvement in crop situation as the monsoon progresses during this month.

While the Met department pointed to improvement in rainfall in many meteorological sub-divisions, it accepted that the situation had “deteriorated” in sub-divisions in north-west India with Punjab, Haryana, western UP being the “worst affected”. “As compared to last week, there is improvement in distribution as well as intensity of rainfall in the country except over north-west India,” it said on Friday adding, “the worst affected (rainfall deficiency of 60 per cent or more) are: (i) western UP (ii) Uttarakhand (iii) Haryana, Chandigarh & Delhi (iv) Punjab (v) Himachal Pradesh (vi) Gujarat region”. 

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