Thirsty Nation

Dry taps and parched fields are forcing India to revise its water management plans.

- Rekha Dixit

The warnings were in place. From late last year, climate experts, including the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), were saying 2019 could be a very hot year. Some even said it could be the hottest ever on record. While the jury is out on that claim, the summer of 2019 has been undeniably awful for India, with Delhi hitting 48 degrees Celsius and even Mumbai reaching 40 degrees Celsius. Churu, Rajasthan, touched 50.3 degrees Celsius, the hottest city in the world on June 3; its melting roads had to be cooled with precious water.

The pre-monsoon rains ended at a 25 per cent deficit (47 per cent in the south), the second driest in 65 years. The monsoon is predicted to perform below normal with private forecaster Skymet saying overall rains will be 93 per cent of the long period average (LPA)—the IMD’s benchmark. The national weather forecaster talks of a “near normal” scenario. But the time and spatial distribution may negate even this rosy picture. Skymet predicts 102 per cent rains in August and less than normal in the remaining monsoon months. East India and parts of central India are predicted to get much less.

So far, the monsoon has not brought much cheer. It arrived on June 8, a week behind schedule, and has moved sluggishly, covering only 15 per cent of India by the third week of June. The month is ending on a severe deficient note. In a country where agricultural cycles are synced with the monsoon, delays are derailing. From across the country are reports of migration from parched villages. Cities are hardly any better off. Water-stressed Chennai has gone dry. The Madras High Court rapped the state government for not having a contingency plan, given that the rain forecast was bleak for this year. Chennai gets most of its precipitation in the northeast monsoon. That succour is months away.