News > India must reform its agriculture policies to minimise the monsoon gamble  

India must reform its agriculture policies to minimise the monsoon gamble  

The heat-wave warning issued for Orissa yesterday provides context to assessing the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) forecast of a normal southwest monsoon this year. The IMD’s forecast means that total rainfall over the four months from June to September will be 96-104% of the long-period average of 868.6 mm. Now, the temporal sequencing of precipitation is as important as its spatial distribution.