The weakest link in Indian agriculture has never been the farmer. It has been the country’s enduring dependence on a monsoon that is becoming increasingly unpredictable. An unusually dry June, accompanied by delayed sowing of key kharif crops, should therefore be read not as an isolated weather event but as another warning that climate volatility is exposing structural weaknesses that successive governments have failed to address decisively. The immediate concern is obvious.

Delayed rainfall has slowed the planting of rice and other rain-fed crops, raising fears of lower agricultural output, pressure on edible oil imports and reduced rural incomes. Agriculture still supports nearly half of India’s workforce, even though its contribution to GDP is much smaller. When the monsoon falters, the consequences extend well beyond farms, affecting food prices, rural consumption, employment and overall economic growth. Yet this is not a repeat of the food shortages that haunted India before the Green Revolution.

Large public grain stocks provide an important cushion against temporary production shocks, and the monsoon season has several weeks left to recover. A good spell of........

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