NEW DELHI: Current weather conditions indicate that India’s monsoon is unlikely to start receding before early October, more than a month later than usual, the head of the weather office said on Friday.
Annual monsoon rains are crucial for India’s $2.75 trillion farm-dependent economy. The monsoon gnerally begins in June and starts to retreat by Sept. 1, but rains have continued beyond that date this year and triggered fatal floods in western India, killing hundreds of people.
“The withdrawal of the monsoon, which is already delayed, is ruled out for at least the next 10 days as weather conditions have not become favorable for the season to end,” Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, director general of the state-run India Meteorological Department (IMD), told Reuters.
India relies heavily on the monsoon for irrigation, though crop damage and delayed harvests can result if the rainfall persists.
This month’s rainfall has intensified over central, southern and western India, causing floods that have swamped cane and rice fields.
“We can see that monsoon rains have improved steadily after a weak, delayed start in June and we now believe that overall rainfall this season will be either normal or above normal,” Mohapatra said.
Two senior weather department officials told Reuters this month that monsoon rains were likely to be above average for the first time in six years.
The IMD defines average, or normal, rainfall as between 96% and 104% of a 50-year average of 89 cm for the entire four-month season.
Monsoon rains, which deliver about 70% of the country’s annual rainfall, arrived on the western Kerala coast on June 8, nearly a week later than usual.
The driest June in five years and a below-average July stoked fears of a drought, but rains picked up in August and September as both the El Nino weather pattern and the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) phenomenon turned favorable.
A strong El Nino, marked by a warming of the surface of the Pacific Ocean, can cause severe drought in Australia, Southeast Asia and India, while drenching other parts of the world, such as the US Midwest and Brazil.
The IOD is characterised by higher sea-surface temperatures in the Indian Ocean and southwesterly winds that bring rain to the Indian sub-continent.
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India’s monsoon set for delayed retreat
India’s monsoon set for delayed retreat
- A strong El Nino, marked by a warming of the surface of the Pacific Ocean, can cause severe drought in Australia, Southeast Asia and India, while drenching other parts of the world, such as the US Midwest and Brazil
US NATO envoy says allies must ‘pull weight’ after Czech defense cut
PRAGUE, March 12 : The United States’ ambassador to NATO said on Thursday that all allies must “pull their weight,” after Czech lawmakers approved a 2026 budget that cuts defense outlays.
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis’ government, in power since December, pushed a revamped budget through the lower house on Wednesday evening which cut the defense ministry’s allocation versus a previous proposal to 154.8 billion crowns ($7.31 billion), or 1.73 percent of gross domestic product.
That is below a NATO target of 2 percent of GDP already expected before alliance members pledged last year in the Hague to raise defense spending to 3.5 percent of GDP plus 1.5 percent on other defense-relevant investments over the next decade.
The Czech Finance Ministry says total defense spending in the budget will reach 2.07 percent of GDP, but the country’s budget watchdog has warned that includes money earmarked elsewhere, like for the transport ministry for road projects, that may not be recognized by NATO.
“All Allies must pull their weight and honor The Hague Defense Commitment,” US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said on X on Thursday with a picture of a news headline on the Czech budget approval.
“These numbers are not arbitrary. They are about meeting the moment — and the moment requires 5 percent as the standard. No excuses, no opt-outs.”
European NATO countries are under pressure to raise defense spending amid the Ukraine-Russia war and at US President Donald Trump’s urging.
Babis, whose populist ANO party won elections last year, said in February the country was “certainly not” on the path to raising core defense spending to the 3.5 percent target, saying there was a different focus, like on health care.
The budget watchdog on Thursday reiterated “strong doubts” that some spending deemed defense in this year’s budget would meet NATO’s definition.
President Petr Pavel, a former NATO official, has also said defense cuts risked a loss of trust from allies — but has signalled he would not veto the budget.
US Ambassador to Prague Nicholas Merrick said last week the Czech Republic may slip to the bottom of NATO’s defense-spending ranks.
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis’ government, in power since December, pushed a revamped budget through the lower house on Wednesday evening which cut the defense ministry’s allocation versus a previous proposal to 154.8 billion crowns ($7.31 billion), or 1.73 percent of gross domestic product.
That is below a NATO target of 2 percent of GDP already expected before alliance members pledged last year in the Hague to raise defense spending to 3.5 percent of GDP plus 1.5 percent on other defense-relevant investments over the next decade.
The Czech Finance Ministry says total defense spending in the budget will reach 2.07 percent of GDP, but the country’s budget watchdog has warned that includes money earmarked elsewhere, like for the transport ministry for road projects, that may not be recognized by NATO.
“All Allies must pull their weight and honor The Hague Defense Commitment,” US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said on X on Thursday with a picture of a news headline on the Czech budget approval.
“These numbers are not arbitrary. They are about meeting the moment — and the moment requires 5 percent as the standard. No excuses, no opt-outs.”
European NATO countries are under pressure to raise defense spending amid the Ukraine-Russia war and at US President Donald Trump’s urging.
Babis, whose populist ANO party won elections last year, said in February the country was “certainly not” on the path to raising core defense spending to the 3.5 percent target, saying there was a different focus, like on health care.
The budget watchdog on Thursday reiterated “strong doubts” that some spending deemed defense in this year’s budget would meet NATO’s definition.
President Petr Pavel, a former NATO official, has also said defense cuts risked a loss of trust from allies — but has signalled he would not veto the budget.
US Ambassador to Prague Nicholas Merrick said last week the Czech Republic may slip to the bottom of NATO’s defense-spending ranks.
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