India, Aug. 14 -- India has seen intense rainfall in recent weeks, with some areas experiencing flood and flood-like situations. Yet as August began, over a third of the country's land area was under different categories of drought, according to the India Drought Monitor maintained by IIT Gandhinagar.

Forecasts suggested the situation may not ease soon. Scientists tracking soil moisture say that drought is likely to persist across large parts of the country over the coming month, even in regions that have already seen rain.

This comes against a backdrop of an overall rainfall deficit: India had received 12 per cent less rainfall than normal as of August 11, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

For farmers, the timing...