The India Meteorological Department has predicted above-normal monsoon this year, but the fact remains that we have become more inured than prepared for the infidelity of rains. Two back-to-back droughts in the past two years have hurt the rural economy.
Indices of domestic equity market have come to acquire closer linkages with rural demand as marquee companies derive huge shares of their sale revenues from the rural belt. No wonder, Dalal Street is pleased with the IMD bulletin. More than economics, bad rains can mar politics long-term. The Bharatiya Janata Party may not be too fancied to excel in the on-going Assembly elections. This makes the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election critical.
The BJP must be desperately seeking the blessing of the rain gods. But it would do well to toil hard in the limited months ahead to put in plans for food security, tune up supply and demand chains and combat possible rural distress, on the assumption of inadequate rains.