The effect of solar activity on rainfall and food grain production in India

This paper examines the inconstant behavior of the sun and solar activity during 1951–2005, which includes the solar activity cycles 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 and 23. The yearly average of the sunspot number which is used as an index parameter to represent the solar activity is used during 1951–2005. Our observational results indicate the differences and similarities from one solar activity cycle to another. The variational character of the Indian rainfall with solar activity during 19512000 exhibits the variational pattern. The post epoch's comparison of solar activity with food grain production during 1951–2005 indicates a repetitive pattern of decreasing and of increasing nature which seems to be related to the changing physical conditions of the sun during the minimum and maximum solar activity periods.