(a) whether the Government has recently launched or proposes to launch the SMS based weather Information and Disaster Alert System;
(b) if so, the details thereof and the objectives behind the move;
(c) whether the Government has made provision to issue SMS alerts to general public;
(d) if so, the details thereof; and
(e) the corrective steps taken/being taken by the Government for improvement in weather forecast and warning based on latest tools and technologies?
MINISTER OF STATE FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI Y.S. CHOWDARY)
(a-b) Yes Madam. Earth System Science Organization–India Meteorological Department (ESSO-IMD) has launched a mobile application for Android based smart phone / tablets on Good Governance Day Observed on 25th December 2013. The mobile app by the name ‘Indian Weather’ is downloadable from Google play store, free of cost. Presently, the app provides current weather and 4 days weather forecast across the country for 310 cities. The mobile app. shall also be hosted for free download from the government mobile appstore (https:/apps.mgov.gov.in/indwx.isp).
The Gramin Krishi Mausam Seva (GKMS) of the ESSO-IMD has been successful in providing the crop specific advisories to the farmers at the district level twice weekly through different print/visual/Radio/ IT based wider dissemination media including short message service (SMS) and Integrated Voice Response System (IVRS). Presently, 8.01 million farmers are receiving the agromet advisories on their mobile.
(c-d) ESSO-IMD has started sending SMS based Cyclone /Tsunami /Earthquakes parameters based alerts to disaster managers of Government of India like National Disaster Management & Disaster Management Authority Control Room of the Ministry of Home Affairs, National Defense Response Force (NDRF), Central Water Commission (CWC) And DG Shipping etc along with the disaster managers of the states from the year 2012 who intern alert the public based on the standard operating procedures at district/sub-district levels. ESSO-IMD is already providing cyclone warnings, nowcast alerts and Agro-meteorological Advisories Services to the farmers by SMS.
(e) Improvement of weather forecasting services is a continuous process through upgradation /augmentation of (i) observation systems (ii)advanced data assimilation tools (iii) advanced communication and IT infrastructure (iv) high performance computing systems and (v) intensive /sophisticated training of ESSO- IMD personnel to facilitate the implementation of advanced global/regional/ meso-scale prediction models for improving the accuracy of weather forecasts in all temporal and spatial scales and for quick dissemination of severe weather forecast assessments/warnings to the users.