Question : Expansion of Forecast Facilities

(a) the names of districts in the country where IMD weather forecasting facility is presently available, State-wise;
(b) whether the IMD has any proposal to expand its weather forecasting throughout the country and if so, the details thereof and the action taken for the purpose;
(c) whether at present country''s capacity to predict extreme weather phenomena is restricted to the district level which elude the benefit to farmers and citizens;
(d) if so, whether IMD is going to extend its high-tech forecast facilities down to the block and village level by extending its SMS alert system to 21 million farmers;
(e) if so, the details thereof and weather Government is going to commission Mihir a high performance computer for weather forecast; and
(f) if so, the time by which its benefits are likely to be derived to give boost to farmers and citizens and other steps taken or being taken by the Government for accurate weather forecast?

THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES
(DR. HARSH VARDHAN)

(a) District wise weather forecasting offices not existing in IMD. However, at each state capital, there is a Meteorological Centre of IMD. IMD issues district level forecasts and warnings for all the districts daily, valid for next 3 days through its Meteorological Centres (MCs) and Regional Meteorological Centres (RMCs) from respective state capitals. In case of cyclones, the district level forecast is issued by the cyclone warning centres at Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Chennai, Visakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar and Kolkata, covering all coastal districts.







India Meteorological Department (IMD) under Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) through “Gramin Krishi Mausan Seva (GKMS)” scheme issues district level agrometeorological advisory services for all the districts in the country. Based on the weather forecast, district level Agromet Advisories are prepared in collaboration with 130 Agromet Field Units (AMFUs) located at State Agricultural Universities, institutes of ICAR and IITs twice a week, viz. on every Thursday and Friday.

(b) IMD already has its weather forecasting services covering the whole country.

(c) Yes Madam

(d) At present, 22.7 million farmers in the country receive the Agromet Advisories through SMS directly. IMD is planning to introduce experimental block level forecasts in some districts and their dissemination of advisories to farmers through SMS.

(e) Mihir and Pratyush High Performance Computer clusters, have already been commissioned for initiating R & D efforts for introduction of experimental block level advisories for farmers.

(f) Efforts for improvement in the accuracy of weather forecast is a continuous process through upgradation of weather forecasting models and observational network.