Assam's monsoon finally arrives

By Subir Bhaumik
BBC News, Kokrajhar, Assam

Farmers are relieved to see the arrival of the rain (Photo by Subhamoy Bhattacharjee) Enlarge Image

When the sky opened and it finally rained heavily in India's north-eastern state of Assam on Tuesday, hundreds of people ran out of their houses to get drenched.

"We Assamese can't bear so much heat and the lack of rain was maddening," said school teacher Anjana Baruah.

Farmers across the state heaved a huge sigh of relief, and prayed to the heavens for more rain.

Assam is not the only state in India to suffer from extremes of the weather: parts of normally drought-prone Rajasthan on the opposite side of the country are currently reeling under floods.

Heat wave

During the past three months, villagers in Assam have been arranging for frogs to marry one another - in a ceremony known as Bhekuli Biya - because they believe such practices help to propitiate the gods and bring rain.

Usually at this time of the year Assam is in the middle of the monsoon, and the state is visited by devastating floods.

Many parts of India have been hit by drought

But since the first week of June, Assam has witnessed a heat wave for the first time in recent memory, with meteorological stations reporting temperatures 4-7C above normal across the state.

Weather officials say the heat wave has much to do with the lack of rain.

This year the total rainfall received in Assam between 1 June and 25 August has been only 77cm, according to Dulal Chakraborty, the state's deputy-director general of meteorology.

Normally Assam receives 150cm of rain during these three months.

The state's worst drought until this year was recorded in 2001 when rainfall of 89cm was received between June and August.

"We are now experiencing the worst rainfall deficiency in Assam during monsoon months in the past 132 years," said Mr Chakraborty.

Drought-like conditions

Some districts like Kokrajhar in western Assam suffered a rainfall deficiency approaching 70% this year.

The drought even extended to the neighbouring district of Dhubri, through which the mighty Brahmaputra river flows into Bangladesh.

More than one million farmers have been affected, and the state's paddy-crop deficit is likely to be between 50-60%.

Assam government spokesman and senior minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, said that 22 districts of the state were facing acute drought-like conditions.

In response to the crisis, the state government has decided to waive land tax for farmers this year.

It has also released millions of rupees to help farmers procure free seeds, diesel and other agricultural requirements.

It is feared that rice and tea crops have been badly affected

Mr Sarma said more help from the National Calamity Relief Fund is likely to flow in.

But farmers across Assam are unhappy with the government's efforts, and say they will launch a campaign to demand more assistance.

"Our share croppers are suffering acute lack of food for their families. Even rich farmers are having it bad," said peasant leader Uddhav Barman of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

He said the government should be "more responsive" and finance should reach the farmers directly rather than go through middlemen.

Relief package

Temperatures across Assam have soared over the summer.

The state capital, Guwahati, and the southern town of Silchar have both recorded temperatures close to 40C over the past few weeks.

"The heat and humidity is both unprecedented and intolerable," said Guwahati resident Jaideep Saikia.

In the neighbouring districts of northern Bengal, the lack of rainfall has resulted in drought.

Six districts of the area have witnessed rainfall well below normal and crop losses are likely to run into millions of rupees.

The authorities here have also announced a relief package, but the farmers say the assistance promised is insufficient.

Meanwhile, the tea crop of Assam and northern Bengal - India's two largest tea-producing areas - is also likely to be seriously affected by the drought.

"While there are floods in the deserts of Rajasthan, a rain-heavy state like Assam has witnessed a long spell of drought," said Assamese politician Rabiram Brahma.

"There seems to be climate swap between western and eastern India."