India is likely to receive normal monsoon rainfall in 2023, the state-run weather office said on Tuesday (11), the fifth straight year of normal or above normal summer rains that spur farm and overall economic growth in Asia's third-biggest economy.
A spell of good rains could lift farm and wider economic growth and help bring down food price inflation, which jumped in recent months and prompted the central bank to raise lending rates.
The rains, which usually lash the southern tip of Kerala state around June 1 and retreat by September, are expected to total 96 per cent of the long-term average this year, M Ravichandran, secretary at the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), told a news conference.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) defines average, or normal, rainfall as ranging between 96 per cent and 104 per cent of a 50-year average of 87 cm (35 inches) for the four-month season.
Private weather forecasting agency Skymet on Monday (10) forecast India could get below normal monsoon rains in 2023, with an increasing likelihood of El-Nino, which typically brings dry weather to Asia.
El-Nino could have an impact on monsoon rainfall in the second half of the season, but other factors - such sea temperature changes, known as the Indian Ocean Dipole - favour good rainfall, said Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, director general of the IMD.
"All El Nino years are not bad monsoon years. About 40 per cent of the El Nino years in the past were years with normal or above normal monsoon rainfall," Mohapatra said.
For the first time in more than two decades, India would see average or above average rainfall for five straight years, IMD data showed.
El Nino weather is unlikely to have any impact on production of summer-sown crops and there is no need to worry about the sowing pattern, Ravichandran said.
Other than watering farms and recharging aquifers and reservoirs, regular rains during the monsoon season can bring relief from the searing heat.
(Reuters)
India expected to see normal monsoon rains this year
Private weather forecasting agency Skymet on Monday (10) forecast India could get below normal monsoon rains in 2023, with an increasing likelihood of El-Nino
Moglai Bap and Mo Chara of Kneecap perform at Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm in Pilton, Somerset, Britain, June 28, 2025. REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
Police may probe anti-Israel comments at Glastonbury
BRITISH police said they were considering whether to launch an investigation after performers at Glastonbury Festival made anti-Israel comments during their shows.
"We are aware of the comments made by acts on the West Holts Stage at Glastonbury Festival this afternoon," Avon and Somerset Police, in western England, said on X late on Saturday (28).
Irish hip-hop group Kneecap and punk duo Bob Vylan made anti-Israeli chants in separate shows on the West Holts stage on Saturday. One of the members of Bob Vylan chanted "Death, death, to the IDF" in a reference to the Israel Defense Forces.
"Video evidence will be assessed by officers to determine whether any offences may have been committed that would require a criminal investigation," the police statement said.
The Israeli Embassy in Britain said it was "deeply disturbed by the inflammatory and hateful rhetoric expressed on stage at the Glastonbury Festival".
Prime minister Keir Starmer said earlier this month it was "not appropriate" for Kneecap to appear at Glastonbury.
The band's frontman Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh was charged with a terrorism offence last month for allegedly displaying a flag in support of Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah at a concert in November. He has denied the charge.
A British government minister said it was appalling that the anti-Israel chants had been made at Glastonbury, and that the festival's organisers and the BBC broadcaster - which is showing the event - had questions to answer.
Health secretary Wes Streeting said he was also appalled by violence committed by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.
"I'd also say to the Israeli Embassy, get your own house in order in terms of the conduct of your own citizens and the settlers in the West Bank," Streeting told Sky News.
"I wish they'd take the violence of their own citizens towards Palestinians more seriously," he said.
(Reuters)