Though delayed by few days from its D-Day, coming of monsoon always bring hope and sends a message of continuity and above all giving relief to the people from the scorching heat. The prevailing heat wave condition in the region hasgiven concern to people with prolonged power cuts, water shortages. Jammu too has not been spared of these conditions though mercury has not crossed 44 degrees Celsius mark as compared to last year at this time. Protests have become a daily affair as has been going on every summer and Govts -previous and the present– as usual have been promising to provide relief. The story continues every year with hardships for people. Jammu and Kashmir is not the only one place which is facing the shortage in fact the whole of north India is under its impact. The over drawing at homes and offices have added shortage to the supply line with production of power remaining much below the demand level so the scarcity. A state like J&K which has remained under financial constrains must be finding difficult to meet the requirements though Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was in public when he said power requisitioned during Ramadaan for Valley would be shared with Jammu. The idea is good but till date no change has been seen. There may be some areas which may have not been affected by this malady but most of the areas are under its grip. Heat wave has kept people indoors and sluggish phase for trade and business. The World Meteorological Organisation definition about a heat wave says ‘when daily maximum temperature of more than five consecutive days exceeds the average maximum temperature by 5 degree Celsius the normal period being 1961-1990’. May and June are usually the hottest months in India. Monsoon refers to the change in wind direction and not the actual rainfall. Hence we have a dry Northeasterly monsoon in winter and wet southwesterly monsoon in summers. This time weathermen are also little optimistic about the forecast. They see the deficit phase with El Nino phenomenon negatively impacting rainfall in the current season.
