Earth Sciences MoS Jitendra Singh Visits IMD Headquarters; Monitors Progress Of Monsoon

Reviewing the monsoon trends at Mausam Bhavan, Earth Sciences Minister Jitendra Singh examined the process of procurement of data on a real-time basis recently.

The Minister spent over an hour at the India Meteorological Department (IMD) headquarters to study the Southwest monsoon trends. He also visited the exclusive satellite and radar sections while going around the various processing equipment.

Singh was informed by the IMD that monsoon rainfall was 26 per cent deficient till date in July.

IMD officials said that at present, besides other state-of-art equipment, IMD has 27 radars spread across the country. The number of radars will go up to 50 in coming years, he was told.

Showing keen interest in understanding the analysis of images received through ISRO satellites, he also received an update about the variations in Delhi's air quality.

Stating that weather forecast data analysis is a complex exercise, Singh urged the scientists at the IMD to further focus on more accurate forecasting.

He has asked the officials to step up people-oriented services, particularly for the agriculture sector and disaster areas like flash floods, cyclones and rain downpours, by using apps and other such latest hi-tech options.

Speaking at a brief presentation, IMD Director-General Mrutyunja Mohapatra informed the Minister that this year the monsoon rainfall was 10 per cent above normal in the month of June, but 26 per cent deficient till date in July.

For the benefit of farmers, using the portal Mkisan of the Ministry of Agriculture, IMD is at present sending more than 42 million SMSes twice a week to farmers across the country, the Minister was told.

Mohapatra said that India was one of the five countries in the world to have the most modern lightning forecast system in place.

The Hydromet Services of IMD using radar technology enables flood forecasting in riverine areas. Apart from city-specific forecasts, information on flash floods in South Asia is also given through this service.