India received 8% more monsoon rain this year than normal. From a bird’s eye view, this is bountiful. Official numbers suggest that the total area sown under kharif crops, until mid-September, increased by around 15 lakh hectares to about 1,110 lakh hectares. Rice cultivation has seen significant growth of over 8.45 lakh hectares to over 438 lakh hectares, compared to 430 lakh hectares during the same period last year. Pulses, coarse cereals and oilseeds have shown similar trends. In India’s main reservoirs, the total available water capacity is, as of late September, 163 BCM (billion cubic metres) up from the 157.8 BCM last year. 1 BCM is trillion litres. However, torrential rains, particularly in August and September, saw several districts in Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Pun

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