India's dependence on rain to feed its crops is causing many a headache as the monsoon that gave a brief preview, has now gone away. India's grain bowl is parched and if it stays that way the next harvest will be badly hit.

Ramesh Chand, a national professor at ICAR, said, "The situation is very serious. Infact more serious than we perhaps realise but can we call it a drought yet? I’ll stop just short of calling it that.”

To be sure, there is still time—about 2-3 weeks more—to sow the next crop.

In fact the probability of rain expected is just 60 per cent and that too is likely to be sporadic and isolated.

Most of India’s crop growing area, 80 per cent, is in the northwest. The government is working on a contingency plan for farmers, in case there's not enough rain, the effect on the economy could be bigger.