PATNA: The generosity of rain god in places like Delhi and Mumbai notwithstanding, Bihar is unlikely to witness much rainfall over the next two-three days even as the overall rain deficit in the state, as on date, is 36%.The India Meteorological Department (IMD)’s all-India weather bulletin on Saturday morning said eastern India, including Bihar, was likely to witness subdued rainfall over the next two to three days.The Patna Meteorological Centre’s weather bulletin on the day also said the state’s 38 districts were likely to receive light to moderate showers — only at a few places — till July 17.A fortnightly weather bulletin issued by the national weather forecasting agency on July 12 had also stated that Bihar was likely to witness only scattered rainfall till July 17. The only silver lining is that the fortnightly bulletin predicted fairly widespread showers in the state on July 18. Sources said the rainfall intensity was likely to increase around July 21.Meanwhile, the IMD’s afternoon weather bulletin on Saturday said the monsoon trough was likely to shift southwards from its near normal position and continue to remain active in the coming three-four days. A monsoon trough is an imaginary line connecting the points of low pressure across the breadth of the country and monsoon rainfall normally hinges along it.Bihar has received 202.5mm rainfall from June 1 to July 13 as against normal 316.1mm, a deficiency of 36%. The rainfall deficiency for the entire country for the period from June 1 to July 11 stood at mere 8%.The rain deficit has created an adverse impact on paddy cultivation as it is the peak period for transplantation of paddy saplings in Bihar. As per the paddy cultivation practices, the seedlings, once they are grown into saplings, are transplanted from the nurseries to the fields, which should ideally have knee-deep water, from June last week or July first week.In this regard, a meeting of the state crisis management group was held under the chairmanship of chief secretary Deepak Kumar on Friday. Sources said the agriculture department was directed to start disbursal of diesel subsidy to farmers and prepare a contingency plan to mitigate the losses of farmers.

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