15 JAN ,Delhi: Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today said, Entire Country will be covered by Doppler Weather Radar Network by 2025 to predict extreme weather events more accurately.
Delivering the Keynote Address on the occasion of 148th Foundation Day of India Meteorological Department (IMD) here, Dr Jitendra Singh took pride in the fact that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi Government, IMD has taken pro-active steps to increase the Radar Network from mere 15 in 2013 to 37 in 2023 and will add 25 more in next 2-3 years.
Shri Pushkar Singh Dhami, Chief Ministerof Uttarakhand, Shri Sukhvinder SinghChief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, Shri Manoj Sinha,LG, UT of Jammu and Kashmir, Dr M. Ravichandran, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, DrMrutyunjayMohapatra, Director General of Meteorology, IMD, Mr D S Pandiyan, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Shri S.C. Bhan, Scientist-G, Chairman, OrganizingCommittee joined the Foundation Day event in Hybrid Mode.
Dr Jitendra Singh informed the Chief Ministers of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand and LG of J&K, who joined the event virtually that IMD has augmented Doppler Weather Radar network in HP, Uttarakhand, Ladakh and J&K which will help further to predict extreme weather events more accurately.
DrJitendra Singh dedicated 4 Doppler Weather Radar Systems to the Western Himalayan States of Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. He also dedicated 200 Agro Automated Weather Stations to the Nation. The Minister also released eight publications of the IMD and gave away awards to school children and also felicitated the best performing offices and officers of IMD.
Dr Jitendra Singh informed that Under Agro-Meteorological Services, it is targeted to establish 660 District Agro Meteorological Units (DAMUs) by 2025 and increase from 3,100 blocks in 2023 to 7,000 blocks in 2025.
The Minister pointed out that the warning and advisory services are helping farmers and fishermen to improve their economy as found from a latest survey by National Centre for Applied Economic Research. For example, the investment in monsoon mission programme has resulted in return of 50 rupees for investment of each one rupee.
The Minister further added that the farmers below the poverty line specially have benefited immensely as Agromet Advisories at District and Block Levels are used effectively by crores of farmers during various stages of farming and the service is being expanded. The web GIS services launched by IMD last year have been augmented further with addition of hazard and vulnerability element in collaboration with other state and central agencies is helping the public, disaster managers and stakeholders to initiate timely response action to mitigate the disasters further, the Minister noted.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, Climate Services are very important for short and long term planning and strategy development and IMD has already initiated these services in five major thrust areas of Agriculture, Health, Water, Energy and Disaster Risk Reduction and has lined up plans to expand them through customization of products. He said, soon a National Framework will be created on priority to provide climate products and information for Sectoral applications.
