With the spectre of drought looming large over several districts in Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said the entire state would be declared drought-hit soon. ''Yes, floods have hit a small part of Bihar but we are more worried about the drought-like situation gripping the state,'' he told reporters on the sidelines of his 'Janata Darbar' held after a gap of seven months.
Kumar said he had assigned the task of assessing the situation to the concerned authorities at the district level who would be holding all-party meetings after discussing with the officials of the respective districts. The state agriculture department, water resources department, public health and engineering department, disaster management and other related departments would make an on-the-spot study of the situation across the state and submit the report within a week.
A high-level meeting would be convened at the state secretariat after the reports were received and after assessing the magnitude of the drought, the state government would make the declaration, he informed and said it would be either before or after August 15. Kumar said as a measure to provide relief to farmers, the state government was giving diesel subsidy of Rs 450 per acre, besides arranging alternative seeds on which subsidy was also granted.
He urged Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar to send a high-level team to -make on-the-spot assessment of the situation for releasing grants worth around Rs 1,000 crore which would be required to tackle the drought situation. The state government had also approached the central power ministry seeking an additional allocation of 300 mw for the purpose of ensuring uninterrupted power supply in the rural areas affected by drought. Special measures were also being taken to ensure drinking water in the rural areas, he added.
Monday, August 03, 2009
A clear India with Very heavy rains over Jharkand and Bihar, Nepal Border, North Bengal and North east.. http://ping.fm/jqi8d
Monsoon subdued as ‘low’ fails to materialise
The Bay of Bengal has once again failed the forecaster community with an anticipated low-pressure area not materialising on the appointed day on Sunday. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts had maintained their outlook for the 'low' until only two days ago.
UPPER AIR WHIRL
In its update on Sunday, the IMD traced out an upper air cyclonic circulation over northwest Bay of Bengal and neighbourhood. This would have had to descend to lower levels to set up the 'low,' but that was not to be. Satellite picture analysis suggested that the 'pull' of feverish convection and storm-building in the west Pacific may just have proved too strong for the flows to pause and set up a circulation in the Bay.
The impact was such that even westerlies heading into the north of India were made to do the bidding of the buzz in the far-east and join a large stream of eastward moisture-laden flows emptying themselves into the west Pacific.
Cyclone phase evolution analysis by at least two global models indicated that the upper air whirl may hover over the northwest Bay and Gangetic West Bengal for another three to four days. The system would still be able to anchor the ongoing rainfall regime around itself for as many days, the IMD forecast said. Fairly widespread rainfall with isolated heavy falls has been forecast over West Bengal, Sikkim, Bihar and Jharkhand during the next three days.
BUSY IN EAST
In its forecast valid until Friday, the International Research Institute (IRI) for Climate and Society at Columbia University has said that Gangetic West Bengal, adjoining Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand and parts of east Uttar Pradesh and Bihar would witness varying rain spells. Parts of east Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are expected to witness 'wetter than normal' conditions while the rains could be particularly heavy uphill over Nepal. These areas are traditionally considered vulnerable to threats of floods and landslides. A weather-friendly Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) wave is expected to be active over equatorial Indian Ocean from around August 15 to 23rd, though the monsoon is known to revive even without an MJO prop. The Climate Prediction Centre (CPC) of the US National Weather Services sees likely 'cyclogenesis' (birth of a storm) over southwest Indian Ocean apparently under the MJO booster impact.
SUBDUED MONSOON
The monsoon was subdued over Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, madhya Maharashtra, Marathwada, Vidarbha, Chhattisgarh, coastal Andhra Pradesh and north interior Karnataka during the 24 hours ending Sunday morning.
The western end of the monsoon trough ran close to the foothills of the Himalayas, indicating the `weak phase' with sparse rainfall, if any, for central and peninsular India.
The eastern end of the trough passed through Gonda, Patna, Bankura and Sagar Islands before heading into the east-central Bay. This is what sustains the ongoing rainfall over east and northeast India.
The offshore trough from Maharashtra coast to Lakshadweep area lay extended from the Maharashtra coast to Kerala coast. It may cause fairly widespread rainfall along the west coast for three more days. Isolated heavy rain is likely over coastal Karnataka and Kerala.
The IMD has indicated subdued rainfall for the western, central and peninsular parts of the country during the next five days. But widespread rainfall with isolated heavy falls is likely over the north eastern States during this period.
A warning valid for the next two days said that isolated heavy rainfall is likely over the Northeastern States, West Bengal, Sikkim, north Orissa, Jharkhand, north Bihar, Kerala, coastal Karnataka and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
The three days that follow will see fairly widespread to widespread rainfall over the northeast and adjoining east India as well as along the foothills of the Himalayas.
Chennai hosts bicycle rally to create awareness on global warming
Thousands of people participated in a cycle rally here to create awareness on climate change and global warming.
Besides women, children and senior citizens, a number of celebrities including Tamil film actors, took part in the rally.
The rally was organized to educate people about the impact of global warming on human lives.
M Subramaniam, mayor of Chennai flagged off the three-kilometre rally.
Holding placards and banners spreading messages on hazards of climate hange, the participants gathered at the city's Light House and cycled through the thoroughfares.
Participants said they wanted to spread the message of the benefits of reducing emissions by switching to alternative modes of transport.
"Global warming is God's warming, the temperature of the earth is going higher and higher due to pollution and fossil fuel burning; we have to reduce it by avoiding the usage of more and more fuel," said Harish, a student.
Participants urged the promotion of eco-friendly vehicles to tackle the problem of global warming.
"This is the first step and we are all trying to cycle down and that means we will start trying cycles and other simpler modes of travelling. This is just the beginning and I hope everyone will join us world over and we make it a big effort to make the world realize that nature is a part of us and we will have to appreciate it," said Swarnermalaya, a Tamil actor.
Residents of Chennai also planned a unique campaign named '99999 lights out' to promote awareness on global warming, where they will switch off their lights for nine minutes.
"To create more awareness, we will switch off the lights for 9 minutes on the 9th month i.e. September 2009," said Vel Murugan, an organiser. (ANI)
RT @EventChennai: Chennai hosts bicycle rally to create awareness on global warming http://bit.ly/100niu
MJO: Dry phase for next 20 days
We(India) are in DRY phase of MJO. This will continue for another 20days minimum, according to latest MJO prediction.
Take a look at MJO prediction
And look at very latest Satellite pic of India taken at 7 AM IST.
Take a look at MJO prediction
And look at very latest Satellite pic of India taken at 7 AM IST.
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