According to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), many states, including Delhi, Punjab, Odisha and Maharashtra, are likely to receive heavy rain and hailstorm between March 18 and 21.

As per the data released by the IMD on March 16, out of 683 districts in the country 381 – around 57 per cent — had received large access rainfall (heavy rainfall) between March 1 and March 16. Twenty-four districts in Jharkhand, 38 in Bihar, 21 in Haryana, 16 in West Bengal, 21 in Madhya Pradesh, 24 in Rajasthan, 16 in Gujarat, 25 in Chhattisgarh, 20 in Punjab and 14 districts of Telangana received heavy rains. In Uttar Pradesh, 74 out of the 75 districts received heavy rainfall in the said period. Now, because of the Western disturbances, it is likely to rain again.

“Some states might receive heavy rainfall and hailstorm between March 18 and 21 because of the Western Disturbances. It might rain in some states on March 23 as well,” said Mahesh Palawat, vice-president, Meteorology and Climate Change at Skymet, a private company that provides weather solutions to Indians.

Which states may receive heavy rain and hail storm?

March 18: As per the weather department, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and the Vidharba and Marathwada regions in Maharashtra might receive heavy rainfall and hailstorm. It might rain in the coastal regions of Andhra Pradesh. The weather department has issued an Orange alert in Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra.

March 19: The weather department has issued an Orange alert in Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Maharashtra (Vidarbha) and Western Madhya Pradesh. It might rain in West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, and Assam.

March 20: As per the weather department, Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Uttarakhand, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and West Bengal might receive heavy rain and hailstorm.

March 21: Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Kerala, Puducherry, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh coastal areas, West Bengal, Telangana and Tamil Nadu might receive heavy rains.

Farmers are still recovering from the earlier spell

“The whole crop is ruined. It can’t be expected to yield even a grain. Earlier, during the rainy season (September-October), my urad crop was ruined. I didn’t get a penny from it. So now from where will I be able to meet my expense? How would my house run?” asked Achhey Lal, who lives in Padava village in Lalitpur district in the Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh. It is about 600 kms away from Delhi. In water scarce Lalitpur, pulses are well cultivated like the rest of Bundelkhand.

The cultivation in Bundelkhand depends on the weather, which has been continuously deceptive in the last one year. In September-October, the crop of urad was damaged by the rain compelling several farmers to commit suicide in places such as Lalitpur. Youngsters had migrated well before Diwali to cities as many farming families have not received the crop insurance money yet.

“When urad was ruined, people in the village had certificates from the insurance company, but it has been four months since and the money has not yet come to the bank accounts until today,” explained Arvind Kumar Niranjan, a young farmer from the village of Sameta in the same district.

The number of farmers like Achhey Lal and Arvind Niranjan is in lakhs. Heavy rain, hailstorm and heavy wind have occurred across several states from February 28 to March 16. Rabi crops of wheat, mustard, potato, grams, barley, mango and vegetables have suffered heavy losses.

“It is time for seeding (seed formation). In the next few days, the crop would have been ready for harvest. Due to hailstones, heavy rains and the winds, the crop has fallen to the ground causing a lot of damage,” said Palawat.

He added: “It had never rained as much in the March. There has been a record rainfall in Delhi because the Western disturbance had been twice activated in March so far. The weather is clear at the moment, but once again, from 18 to 20, when the Western disturbance becomes active, it may rain again in some states. Also, on March 23, the weather may worsen in some places.

The states where weather played havoc in March (like Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh) are the states where good cultivation takes place, and which were expected to produce a good yield this time. Now, however, they suffer a huge loss of crops.

The Agriculture Ministry had projected a record yield of wheat of around 10.62 million tonnes this year, but now the production may actually fall. In 2019, 10.36 million tonnes of wheat was produced in the country. Besides wheat, the second crop which has suffered heavily across Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, is mustard. The agriculture ministry had already predicted in Rabi season forecast a fall by 1.56 per cent in its production.

Rajendra Kumar, 35, from Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh, who had sown mustard in more than 1.5 acres, said: “Mustard was about to be harvested in 2-4 days, but now all the pods have disintegrated. I had somehow sown the crop by borrowing and taking money on interest, but now it is all ruined. If there is no crop, what will our children eat?”

The worst loss due to rain and hailstorm has occurred in Uttar Pradesh where out of 75, 74 districts have been reeling under weather. State chief minister Yogi Adityanath had visited Daltonpur village in Jalaun district on March 14 and had issued cheques of financial assistance to 51 farmers before expressing his government’s support for the farmers.

As per the report published in the newspapers in Uttar Pradesh, the Rabi crop has been damaged in an area of 11,27,707 hectares across 23 districts as per the data received from the Relief Commissioner’s office till March 14. The issue of wastage of crops was raised in the Upper House of the Parliament on March 16. Members of Parliaments from the BJP and SP had demanded immediate relief citing massive destruction. In the zero hour, BJP MP Vijay Goel said that rain and hail have damaged wheat and vegetable crops of 50,000 farmers in Delhi and demanded compensation at the rate of Rs 60,000 per acre for farmers from the ruling Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi.

BJP MP Harnath Singh sought to assess the damage and help the farmers by sending a special team from the Centre in UP, while the SP MP, Revati Raman Singh, has demanded immediate steps for the farmers.

According to the Skymet, both, the Western and Eastern parts of UP have recorded more rainfall than usual. Between March 1 and 15, Eastern Uttar Pradesh received 808 per cent more than normal rainfall of 35.4 mm. Similarly, the Western parts have recorded 45.4 mm of rainfall, which is 741% higher than normal. These parts normally have 3.9 mm and 5.4 mm of rain respectively.

In Haryana, heavy rain lashed across 21 districts, including Bhiwadi and Rohtak. Haryana Agriculture Minister JP Dayal, who arrived in the fields after hailstorm on March 5 and 7, had said: “Farmers, don’t panic. The government shall compensate your loss.” Deputy CM Dushyant Chautala had also issued orders for a special survey but both farmers and the opposition seemed dissatisfied.

Congress national spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala has alleged that despite Haryana suffering a loss of 40-50 per cent, the Khattar government is not bothered about farmers.

Ramesh Kumar, a farmer and also a farmer leader from Bhiwadi, Haryana who is associated with Bharatiya Kisan Union, said: “Our belt (Tosham Halka) cultivates vegetables on a large scale, but insurance companies do not insure them. The government says that there is no separate law for vegetables even though it requires more money to cultivate vegetables than paddy and wheat. I met the agriculture minister, but there was no outcome.”

The biggest problem for the farmers is that the weather threat is not yet over. The Indian Meteorological Department informed on March 16 that the weather will be clear in the western Himalayas for the next two days while it will be good for three days in the Northwestern India. On March 18 and 20, however, hail and strong winds can once again be witnessed in Odisha, West Bengal and Jharkhand whereas, during March 17 to 20, it may rain in Chhattisgarh, Vidarbha in Maharashtra and eastern Madhya Pradesh accompanied with winds at the speed of 30-40 kmph. Thunder, lightning and hailstorm are also expected.

Another problem for the farmers would be that not only their production will fall due to weather but also the quality of crops. Damaged grains do not fetch a good price in the market.