(a) whether after failure of monsoons any State or Non-Governmental Organizations have sought the assistance of Central Government for artificial rains;
(b) if so, the details thereof ;
(c) whether it is a costly project;
(d) if so, the details thereof ;
(e) whether there have been incidences when rains had failed and then State Governments had hired an aircraft for opting for `artificial rains` through `cloud seeding`; and
(f) if so, the details in this regard?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
(SHRI BACHI SINGH RAWAT)
(a) No, Sir.
(b) to (d) : Does not arise in view of (a).
(e) Yes, Sir. Cloud seeding experiments using aircrafts were carried out by Uttar Pradesh State Government in 1973 and 1974, by Gujarat Government during 1975 to 1981 and in 1987, by Karnataka Government in 1975, 1981 and 1982 and by Tamil Nadu Government in 1975 and 1983.
(f) The cloud seeding experiments showed some increase in rainfall under favourable meteorological conditions. However, results are not encouraging under persistent drought conditions when seedable clouds are not generally available and cloud formation and growth is inhibited. correlation