For what it's worth

[checking]

A local, formerly of Kolkata (Calcutta) India in the state of West Bengal, is daily in contact with his family. The state is a major grower of rice for India. They produce four crops/year in two major monsoon seasons and two minor. He claims the small plot unmechanized farmers planted their rice, and a week later those rice plants perished with the failure of the arrival of the monsoon. Now comes the caveat. This same guy sent a picture of his friend's rural house to his wife in Calcutta. She noticed in the background a oil pumpjack, and enquired back to her husband as to what the structure was. He replied that it was an oxygen pump that the government of Canada turned on in our cold winters to warm the air to make it breathable. She believed him, saying that Canada must have a lot of smart people in government! Larry, would you know if it's true or not about about the rice crop of West Bengal? Thank you.

[LWeber]

Up to July 22 - WB is anywhere from 45% to 64% deficient from normal rainfall and is one of the worst hit for drought.

Rain is falling right now and the radar shows that it is intense but is probably too late to do any good.

google: west bengal, rice, drought and you can read for an evening.

[Zaphod]

Here's more info about oilseeds. Maybe it's not so bad.

Monsoon rains in July have accelerated sowing of summer-sown oilseeds in key Indian states, boosting prospects of a good crop, but rains in next two months
would be crucial for output, a senior trade official said.
"In the beginning of June the picture was gloomy since there was rain deficit throughout the country. But July was very good and now acreage is practically the same as last year," B.V. Mehta, executive director of the Solvent Extractors' Association of India, told Reuters in an interview.
Output of soybean, the main oilseed crop, may touch 9 million tonnes in the year ending Sept 2010, if rains are normal in August and September, Mehta said. As per trade estimates, India has harvested 8.2-8.5 million
tonnes of soybean in the current year ending Sept 2009.