Pawar warns of draught like situation in North India

New Delhi, July 10 (ANI): Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar today warned that, North India facing drought-like situation, and states like Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Delhi might face serious problems due to scarcity of rains.

Pawar, however, said the Ministry of Agriculture has prepared two contingency plans to face the situation arising from the failure of monsoon.

According to Pawar, active monsoon condition was likely to continue over Central India for couple of days and monsoon was expected to intensify over Maharashtra and Gujarat during the same period.

He also said the rainfall is likely to increase in eastern and northeastern India.

Meanwhile, Pawar announced in the Lok Sabha that the government has provided additional seeds to states in case the farmers need to undertake sowing a second time due to delay in monsoons.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) too had predicted a weak monsoon this year in North India.

According to the latest estimates of the IMD, cumulative seasonal rainfall during this year's monsoon has so far been 43 percent below the long-term average.

The poor monsoon is likely to affect overall Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a basic measure of country's economic performance. (ANI)