Lok Sabha Question No. 4262 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-03-21
Subject: Decline in Rainfall
Ministry: EARTH SCIENCES
Asked by: LAKHAN LAL SAHU, RAJU ALIAS DEVAPPA ANNA SHETTI

## MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 4262

## TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21, 2018

## DECLINE IN RAINFALL

## 4262. SHRI LAKHAN LAL SAHU: SHRI RAJU SHETTY:

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the rainfall in the ensuing monsoon is expected to remain below average and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the Government has conducted any assessment to ascertain  the  reasons  for  declining  rainfall  and  if  so,  the  details thereof and the expected loss likely to be suffered by the farmers due to the possible drought;
- (c) the  alternative sources  of  water  supply  in  case  of  failure  of monsoon;
- (d) whether  the  Government  has  categorized  different  parts  of  the country as excess, normal and deficient rainfall areas on the basis of rainfall during the last three years and if so, the details thereof, State-wise/year-wise/category-wise; and
- (e) whether the Government has explored the possibilities to divert rain water from excess rainfall areas to deficient rainfall areas and if so, the detail thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (DR. HARSH VARDHAN)

- (a) Madam, so far IMD has not issued any operational forecast for the 2018 monsoon season as the data of predictors used for generating forecast will be available only after 10 th  of April.  The first forecast for the seasonal rainfall over the country as a whole will be issued around middle of April, 2018.
- (b) All India Summer Monsoon rainfall time series shows no statistically significant  trend  during  the  period  1871-2017  though  it  shows  a slight decreasing tendency in the recent 3 decades.
- (c) Requisite information is not available with this ministry.
- (d) IMD  has  categorized  different  parts  of  the  country  into  various categories  on  the  basis  of  rainfall.    The  maps  indicating  seasonal rainfall categories for the last three years are given in the Appendix1.    As  seen  in  the  map,  the  rainfall  categories  used  are;  Excess, Normal, Deficient & Scantly.
- (e) The  National  Perspective  Plan  (NPP)  was  prepared  by  the  then Ministry  of  Irrigation,  now  Ministry  of  Water  Resources,  River Development  &  Ganga  Rejuvenation  (MoWR,  RD  &  GR)  in  August 1980 for water resources development through inter basin transfer of water, for transferring water from water surplus basins to waterdeficit  basins.  Under  the  NPP,  the  National  Water  Development Agency (NWDA)  has identified 30 links (16 under Peninsular Component  &  14  under  Himalayan  Component)  for  preparation  of Feasibility  Reports.  The  Pre-Feasibility  Report  of  the  all  30  links have been prepared and circulated to the concerned State Governments by the NWDA. After survey and investigations, Feasibility  Reports  of  14  links  under  Peninsular  Component  and Feasibility Reports of 2 links and draft Feasibility Reports of 7 links (Indian portion) under Himalayan Component have been completed.

## Appendix-1

<!-- image -->

<!-- image -->

<!-- image -->