India's monsoon has revived and advanced after a prolonged weak phase to the central region comprising the states of Madhya Pradesh and parts of Uttar Pradesh, the country's top weather official said on Sunday. India's monsoon displayed a weak phase for about two weeks from June 7, and then showed marginal revival in the South-Western coasts. It has so far covered southern, eastern region and parts of Western India. “We expect good rainfall in the next seven to 10 days,” Ajit Tyagi, director general of the India Meteorological Department told Reuters. India's monsoon rainfall during June 1 to June 24 was 52.8 mm, 54 percent below the normal rainfall. The weather office in a statement to Reuters said the total rainfall for the crucial June-September monsoon would be only 93 percent of the long-term average, coming in below normal for the first time in four years. The monsoon hit the southern coasts on May 23, ahead of the normal date of June 1. As the monsoon continue to play hide and seek with Andhra Pradesh, thousands of Muslims offered special prayers for the rains seeking mercy of the Almighty. “Namaz-e-Istesqa”, as the special prayers for the rains are called, was offered at the Mir Alam Idgah by thousands of men, women and children led by the state Mufti Khaleel Ahmad, the head of prominent Islamic educational institution Jamia Nizamia. Special prayers were being offered by the people of different faiths after the recent appeal of the Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy. While the major temple at Kachiguda organized Varuna Yagam in the city two days ago, about thousand temples under the Tirumala Tirupati Devsthanam organized similar prayers across the state.
