Lok Sabha Question No. 52 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-07-18
Subject: District and Block Level Forecast Facility
Ministry: EARTH SCIENCES
Asked by: RAM CHARITRA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 52

TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2018

## DISTRICT AND BLOCK LEVEL FORECAST FACILITY

52. SHRI RAM CHARITRA NISHAD:

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  India  Meteorological  Department  is  considering  to expand  its  high  tech  forecast  facilities  down  to  block  level  and extend its direct SMS alert system by adding 21 million farmers to the network and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether at present only one lakh farmers in a district get such alert system and the IMD plans to expand the facilities to 6500 blocks across  the  country  by  the  end  of  this  year  and  if  so,  the  details thereof;
- whether  it  is  also  true  that  though  India's  record  in  predicting cyclones  is  among  the  best  in  the  world,  the  High  Performance Computer system would further refine it for more accuracy and lead
- (c) time; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof and the action taken by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) Yes Madam. IMD has already covered 637districts in the country for providing Agromet Advisories and is now venturing into implementation  of  block  level  weather  forecast  and  Agromet Advisories  in  collaboration  with  Krishi  Vigyan  Kendras  (KVKs) under  ICAR  network.  From  Monsoon  2018,  IMD  with  AMFUs  has started  to  prepare  and  disseminate  the  experimental  block  level advisory. A total 50 Agro-Met Field Units (AMFUs) representing 24 states  have  started  the  block  level  advisory  on  pilot  basis  in district  of  its  location.    As  on  date,  these  50  units  cover  ~200 blocks.    At  present  39  million  farmers  registered  with  MKisan Portal are receiving the Agromet Advisories directly through SMS.
- (b) IMD, Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) under the scheme 'Gramin Krishi Mausan Seva (GKMS)' issues district level weather forecast covering  all  the  districts  in  the  country.  Based  on  the  weather forecast, Agromet Advisories are prepared in collaboration with 130 Agromet Field Units (AMFUs) located at State Agricultural Universities, ICAR institutes and IIT on every Tuesday and Friday. Detailed information is provided under 'Supplementary Information'. Most  of  the  farmers  in  a  district  have  been  registered  under  the MKisan portal, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and the number  of farmers in a district receiving  the  SMS  Agromet advisories ranges from thousands to lakhs.

IMD  is  planning  to  establish  District  Agromet  Units  (DAMUs)  at Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) to generate Agromet Advisories for each block of respective districts and reach out to the farmers to save the crops from weather aberration and ultimately increase the productivity of the crops.

- (c)-(d) Yes.   The  forecast  accuracy  of  IMD  is  comparable  or  better  than the  leading  centres  of  the  world.    The  accurate  forecast  of  the tropical cyclones PHAILIN, HUDHUD, VARDAH etc are the examples of best forecasts issued by IMD in recent years.

The recent up gradation of the High Power Computing System has helped  in  the  implementation  of  the  following  modelling  systems which would further refine cyclone forecasting:

-  Global  Ensemble  Forecasting  System  (GEFS)  at  a  very  high  a resolution of 12 km to provide forecast upto 7 days from 1 st  June, 2018.
-  The Unified Model (UM) and Unified Model Ensemble Prediction System  (UMEPS)  have  been  adapted  from  UK  Meteorological Office  (UKMO),  UK to  provide  forecast  upto  7  days  with  12  km resolution from 1 st  June, 2018.
-  IMD  also  runs  cyclone  specific  Hurricane  Weather  Research  & Forecast (HWRF) Model adapted from NCEP, NOAA, USA with a resolution  of  18  km,  6  km  and  2  km  for  cyclone  track  and intensity prediction. A project has been undertaken to implement high resolution Ocean Atmospheric Coupled HWRF Model at IMD for cyclone forecasting.

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