Himangshu Watts, Yahoo News 14 Jul 09;
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India is scrambling to divert power supplies to the countryside to irrigate rice and oilseed crops and limit damage after the worst start to the vital monsoon season in eight decades has raised fears of a drought.
The shift threatens to worsen the summer power deficit that has plagued India for decades, particularly with the country's hydropower plants running below 40 percent of capacity as scanty rains have depleted reservoirs.
Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde is worried about the shortfall in monsoon rains as hydropower accounts for one quarter of India's total power generation of 149,400 megawatts.
He said the government had ensured a higher supply of electricity to Punjab and Haryana states, the key grain producing regions, to help irrigation.
"They have the water but they don't have the power," Shinde said, adding India already faced a power shortage of 15,000-20,000 megawatts.
India's farm minister, Sharad Pawar, said on Monday that monsoon rains were expected to improve this week, while the latest weather office bulletin forecasts heavy rains in coastal areas of southern India and parts of central India.
Last week the U.S. government said that an El Nino weather pattern is developing, putting countries from Asia to North America on alert for meteorological havoc to crops and infrastructure.
The phenomenon is caused by a warming of seas in the Pacific.
In the mineral-rich eastern state of Orissa, at least 5,000 people were affected by flash floods and 11 people were drowned, Orissa Flood Control Officer B.B. Patnaik said.
In the western city of Mumbai, waters in the main river rose and services on the crucial railway lines were shut because of incessant rain since Monday night.
Television channels showed images of people wading through knee deep water and flooded railway tracks.
In the farm sector, which provides livelihoods to two-thirds of India's 1.1 billion people, weak monsoons would hit the oilseed crop and could force India to import a record amount of edible oils in the crop year to October.
In central India, the output of the soybean crop may fall, potentially hitting oilmeal exports from Asia's top meal exporter, traders said.
The government has already shown signs of nerves, stopping wheat exports 10 days after it lifted a two-year ban on shipments this month. [ID:nDEL506325]
So far, the government has declared four districts in the central Indian state of Jharkhand and the northeastern state of Manipur as drought-hit but these states are not key grain producers.
But sowing of rice, groundnut and soybeans has been delayed in most parts of northern and central India, junior farm minister K.V. Thomas told parliament on Tuesday.
Industry officials are also worried about the fall in domestic oilseed production in India, the world's top vegetable oils importer after China.
"The erratic monsoon and likely lower summer-sown oilseeds crop will further push imports in September and October months and overall imports are likely to be about 8.0 million tonnes," the Solvent Extractors Association said in a statement.
India's monsoon rains were 46 percent below normal in the month of June, while in the first week of July, rainfall was 29 percent below normal, according to the Indian Meteorological Department.
India depends heavily on monsoon rains as only 40 percent of its farmland has access to irrigation facilities.
(Additional reporting by Mayank Bhardwaj, Nidhi Verma, Jatindra Dash and Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Editing by Sambit Mohanty)
India monsoon picks up; government says no need to panic
Mayank Bhardwaj and Rajesh Kumar Singh, Reuters 15 Jul 09;
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India has a contingency plan if annual monsoon rains remain below normal and there is no need panic, India's finance minister said on Wednesday.
India has suffered the worst start to the vital monsoon in eight decades, raising fears of a drought in a country where only 40 percent of farmland is irrigated.
But the rains have picked up from a shortfall of 34 percent of the long-term average in the June 1-July 9 period, to 29 percent between June 1 and July 14, weather officials told Reuters.
India's weather office on Wednesday forecast rains in India's key cotton, rice and soy regions, including widespread precipitation in the next 48 hours in central India, boosting the soybean crop.
"There has been some concern on the progress of the monsoon. As I mentioned earlier, the government is monitoring the situation," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told parliament.
India was ready to implement a contingency plan, he said, but did not elaborate.
"At the same time I would not like to press the panic button," he added.
Flash floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains have killed 15 people in the eastern state of Orissa, but in the northeastern states of Assam and Manipur authorities have declared droughts after scant rain.
POWER SUPPLIES
The India Meteorological Department has also forecast patchy rain in Punjab and Haryana where deficient monsoons have encouraged rice farmers to switch to premium grades, which require less water but are more prone to disease.
A 30 percent rainfall deficit in Assam, a tea- and rice-producing state, led to extensive crop damage and industry officials said tea prices had soared.
"An action plan has been worked out to provide water to the people in the affected area, so that there should not be any shortage of drinking water," said Tarun Gogoi, Assam's chief minister.
Weak rains forced the federal government to divert power supplies to the countryside to irrigate rice and oilseed crops and limit damage, a move which threatens to worsen the summer power deficit that has plagued India for decades.
Though India's farm minister said on Monday he expected the monsoon rains to improve, jitters prompted New Delhi to stop wheat exports 10 days after it lifted a two-year ban on shipments.
Trade Minister Anand Sharma on Wednesday told parliament the government would not raise import taxes on palm oils, to keep prices down. There is worry the monsoon could harm the oilseed crop and send prices up.
Edible oil producers want a higher tax to curb surging imports.
In flood-prone Orissa the government told local authorities to stock food and put rescue teams on standby as heavy rain stranded thousands, with more downpours were expected.
(Additional reporting by Jatindra Dash in Bhubaneswar, Himangshu Watts in New Delhi, Shilpa Jamkhandikar in Mumbai, Biswajyoti Das in Guwahati, Ikhhlaq Singh Aujla and Vikas Vasudeva in Chandigarh; Writing by Matthias Williams; Editing by Bryson Hull and Jon Boyle)
