The government is closely monitoring the monsoon situation in the country. Giving this information in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today, the Agriculture Minister, Mr Sharad Pawar said the government has taken several measures to mitigate the effects of deficiency in the rainfall.

The measures included the introduction of diesel subsidy, enhancement of seed subsidy and up-scaling the central
sector scheme on feed and fodder. The Minister said the cumulative deficiency in rainfall in the country at the end of June this year was 29 per cent below the Long Period Average (LPA).

It was 20 per cent at the end of July. He said the overall rainfall in the country as on 28th of August was 12 per cent below the Long Period Average. He said out of the 36 meteorological sub-divisions in the country, 23 received normal rainfall, 12 deficient rainfall and one sub-division received scanty rainfall. The minister said several districts in Karnataka, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra have so far been declared drought. He said central teams have been constituted to visit these states for assessing the situation.