India, July 31 -- Odisha and states in the north-east such as Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, and Nagaland are facing floods currently. Parts of south Gujarat have also faced floods this monsoon, as have parts of Maharashtra near Mumbai. Floods and landslides have also been reported this July from Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir. This would suggest that India has received its fair quota of intense rain this monsoon even if the monsoon overall is running dry. That is not the case. An HT analysis shows that higher intensities of rain are a bigger contributor to India's rain deficit this monsoon season. How is this possible? The following charts explain how.

One simple reason for higher intensities of rain making a bigger contribution to rain d...