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Yagna
to Appease Rain God NEW DELHI: With the monsoon nowhere in sight, except for the meteorologists, and people reeling under prolonged, scorching heat without break since mid-April, the faithful organised a yagna in New Delhi, India's Capital, to appease the rain God, Indra. Muslims and Hindus alike are holding mass prayers or yagnas in various parts of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan also.
According to a brazen report in the press from Aligarh, the women folk there took off their clothes to till the land in a bizarre ritual to please the rain God, a re-enactment of a scene from Hindu mythology. In Madhya Pradesh, no less a person than Governor Bhai Mahavir undertook the yagna while Chief Minister Digvijay Singh sought the blessings from the Pandharpur shrine. When it rained for once on July 20, Government spokesmen claimed it was due to the prayers. According to reports, the vice-presidential candidate, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, also organised a yagna in a Jaipur temple on a large scale. While drought is gripping central, north-western and south-eastern India - Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa - the eastern parts, including Assam and Bihar, are facing massive destruction due to floods. The prices of vegetables have sky-rocketed in north and north-west India due to drought conditions forcing many to forget their favourite dishes. The first monsoon showers were expected to hit the Capital and surrounding regions around June 29 and the delay has caused immense loss to the crops.
With vegetable supplies drying up, their prices are spiralling, forcing the customers to drastically cut down their cosumption. Prices of vegetables like lady-finger and cabbage have doubled, and in some places even trebled. Delhi procures most of its vegetables from the neighbouring states of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. With these places facing a near-drought like situation, a rise in vegetable prices in Delhi was inevitable. Apart from vegetables, the dry spell is also responsible for the loss to paddy crops in Punjab and Orissa. At a time when the fields should have been under knee-deep waters, the non-appearance of the monsoon coupled with the soaring temperatures, has caused crops to wilt. "At this time of the year, one to two feet of water is usually there in the paddy fields. But you can see our fields are lying dry. How will paddy grow in this situation?" said Netra Muduli, a farmer from Orissa.The exasperated farmers have been left with little choice.
The farmers could not bear the sight of their crops wilting on parched lands without ater and their animals dying away. Rain has been a few mm in place of what it should have been in several hundreds. The Uttar Pradesh Governmnet has declared 15 districts as drought-affected. That means, revenue collections will stop and relief works will start.
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