Water Woes: Deficient rain fails to dampen “granaries of India”

CHANDIGARH: Rains ahead of the southwest monsoon across the northern states of Punjab and Haryana, known as the “granaries of India”, remained over 50 per cent deficient in the past one month, hampering sowing of paddy in several areas, officials said on Monday.
“The overall deficiency of rainfall in June in Punjab was 50 per cent, while in Haryana it was more than 60 per cent,” an Indian Meteorological Department official here told IANS.
As per the the Punjab Agriculture Department, the state has completed 52 per cent sowing of kharif season crops, which is 20 per cent more compared to the last season.
This is mainly due to more than 15 lakh tubewells in Punjab and sufficient availability of canal water, mainly in Malwa region.
Haryana, too, has seen a similar trend and recorded nearly 50 per cent sowing of kharif season crops.
Facing water crisis and falling groundwater, Haryana this year has started a pilot project to discourage the water-guzzling paddy crop.