India's monsoon rains have strengthened in recent weeks, easing a drought that has hit large swathes of the country, though some areas remain severely affected, the weather office said Thursday.

"There have been rains in the past couple of weeks. We are expecting good rains in the next couple of days and a further lessening of the deficiency," weather office spokesman B.P. Yadav told AFP.

He said the rains for the country were still 20 percent below the norm, stretching to 35 percent below in the hardest-hit areas in the northwest.

In some parts of the country a deficit has turned to a deluge with heavy rains causing flooding.

In low-lying West Bengal, floods have killed five and marooned 400,000 with army helicopters called into action on Thursday to drop food packets and bottled water to the worst-affected, local officials said.

West Bengal relief minister Mortaza Hossain told AFP that an area in the Hooghly district resembled "a huge lake with just the tops of roofs poking through."

"Rescue workers evacuated 37,000 people, but another 400,000 people are still trapped in flooded homes," he added.

Rain storms in the capital Delhi throughout the day on Thursday clogged streets and led to localised flooding.

"It is still monsoon season. The month of September is known for occasional heavy rains particularly over northwest India," said Yadav added.

Low rains in July and August ravaged India's rice, cane sugar and groundnut crops, and disrupted the flow of water into the main reservoirs that are vital for hydropower generation and winter irrigation.

About 40 percent of India's districts have declared a drought and economists have warned that the problems facing farmers will hamper India's economic growth this year.

For India's 235 million farmers, a bad monsoon can spell financial disaster because of the lack of irrigation.

In one area of northern India, local activists have highlighted the plight of debt-ridden farmers whose failed crops have led them to sell their wives to raise money to clear their debts.

"This has been happening for quite some time now, but people were hesitant to come out with all this," Manoj Kumar, a social activist working with farmers in the Bundelkhand region told AFP this week.

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