Growth And Rainfall

I was reading this article "Slow and Steady", TOI, about the recent growth rate of India and how the rainfall and drought can affect it. After giving it a coffee break thought, I thought its worth mentioning in my blog.

Well as per the government, our country has done better compared to our western counterparts in tackling recession, though we too have seen lots of jobs being slashed and decrease in GDP. The growth in the last quarter comes as a relaxation for most of the government officials and corporate world as it exceeds the expectations. No questions, a lot has been done by government and corporate world to curb the recession. More and more no. of SEZ's were being identified and were developed, Bank rates were slashed and many more steps were taken. Finally our economy is showing growth. But as when we thought everyhting is going smooth, slow and steady, comes the jerk.

If yesteryear world economy played the part of the villain, Monsoon is the culprit this year. Scattered rainfall in most part of the country is leading to drought and increase in prices of agricultural products. Most affected are pulses seeing the steepest hike ever. Prediction is that late rain will be boon for winter crops. Government too has taken the initiative to release and distribute the agricultural products from the stock to minimize the chaos. Apart from affecting the agriculture, Monsoon has big role in hydel power generation too. Low rainfall this year can be a major reason for less power generation thus affecting the industrial growth.

It is predicted that inflation will be 4% more in March 2010 as compared to same period in 2009. The economic growth is expected to be 5.8% in year 2009-10 which was earlier projected to 6.3%. Government is hopeful that non-agricultural growth will be more.