Lok Sabha Question No. 2840 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-12-17
Subject: Monsoon Warning System
Ministry: EARTH SCIENCES
Asked by: Shri Manickam Tagore B

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2840

## TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, 17 TH  DECEMBER, 2025

## MONSOON WARNING SYSTEM

## 2840.   SHRI MANICKAM TAGORE B:

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:

- (a) whether it  is  a  fact  that  despite  repeated  claims  of  a  robust  monsoon  warning  system, several regions continue to face avoidable loss of life due to delayed or inaccurate alerts and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons for contradiction between the ground reports and official claims;
- (b) whether the India Meteorological Department (IMD's) so-called "state-of-the-art forecasting network" is fully functional in all vulnerable districts including Doppler radars, high-resolution models and GIS systems and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons for delay in full deployment;
- (c) whether the Government is effectively utilising the CWC's FloodWatch India app and realtime river monitoring sensors for timely flood forecasting and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;
- (d) whether the transition to impact-based warnings and color-coded advisories is complete nationwide and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor; and
- (e) whether NDMA's integrated alert system including the SACHET portal is reaching citizens consistently through SMS, mobile apps and social media and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND EARTH SCIENCES (DR. JITENDRA SINGH)

- (a)-(b)  The accuracy of the forecasting models used by IMD has improved significantly; however, it is not possible to forecast with 100% accuracy. The skill score for 24-hour (1 day) in advance detection of monsoonal heavy rainfall over the meteorological subdivisions is 85% in  2024.  At  present,  the  accuracy  of  IMD's  heavy  rainfall  forecasts,  measured  as  the percentage of correct warnings, is 85%, 73%, 67%, 63%, and 58% for lead times ranging from one to five days, respectively. Overall, forecast accuracy for heavy rainfall events across the country improved by about 40% in 2023-2024 compared to 2014.

IMD  issues  heavy  rainfall  impact-based  forecasting  and  risk-based  early  warnings considering the amount of heavy rainfall and the susceptibility of the area of occurrence of heavy rainfall. The warning is issued at the meteorological subdivision and district level, valid up to 7 and 5 days, respectively. There is also nowcasting every three hours, with validity of the next three hours for heavy rainfall.

IMD's  state-of-the-art  forecasting  system  is  fully  operational  in  all  the  districts  of  the country. The high-resolution models and GIS systems cover all the districts of the country. Regarding  the  Doppler  Weather  Radar  (DWR)  Network,  currently,  47  DWRs  are  in operation  across  India,  with  87%  of  the  total  area  of  the  country  coming  under  radar coverage. In the coming years, DWRs will be installed as per the requirement to cover the remaining gap areas in the country, provide redundancy, and replacement of old radars in the DWR network under Mission Mausam of MoES. The Ministry is continuously working to strengthen observational capabilities and R&D infrastructure to achieve greater accuracy in weather forecasting. Further, the IMD has expanded its infrastructure for observations, data exchange, monitoring & analysis, forecasting, and warning services in the country, including vulnerable districts.

To provide computational support for such high-resolution models and to enable them to run  regularly  in  real-time,  the  computing  facilities  (Arunika  and  Arka)  have  also  been substantially  increased  to  integrate  voluminous  data  and  run  mesoscale,  regional,  and global  models  at  higher  resolutions.  Further,  recently,  a  new  Central  Sector  Scheme, "Mission  Mausam",  was launched by  the MoES to make Bharat a "weather-ready and climate-smart" nation. Various steps have been taken to ensure effective dissemination of warnings  to  vulnerable  populations.  The  recently  launched  Bharat  Forecasting  System (BharatFS) has been developed primarily to improve short- and medium-range weather predictions.

Forecast improvement is a continuous process with augmentation of more observations and Numerical Weather Prediction Models. With further improvement in  the observational network  consisting  of  traditional  (surface,  AWS/ARG/HWSR,  and  upper  air  stationsRS/RW,  GPS  Sonde,  Pilot  balloon,  and  wind  profilers)  and  remote-sensing  observing platforms (Satellites and Radars), the forecast accuracy is likely to improve further.

All warnings originated by IMD pertaining to Monsoon are made available to SDMAs in near  real  time  for  further  dissemination  over  SMS,  Mobile  App,  Sachet  Public  Portal, GAGAN & NaVIC Satellite terminals, and RSS feed. There is no processing delay in the Sachet platform.

- (c) Central Water Commission (CWC) developed the FloodWatch India mobile application during the 2023 monsoon season to provide real-time flood information, forecasts, and alerts to users across the country. The FloodWatch India App, developed and maintained by  the  CWC,  provides  near  real-time  information  and  presently  disseminates  flood forecasting information (water levels) for 200 flood forecasting stations across the country, near real-time water levels for an additional 500+flood monitoring stations, and live storage status  of  150+major  reservoirs,  thereby  enabling  continuous  situational  awareness  for various stakeholders. The application serves as a vital decision-support tool for Disaster Management Authorities at the Central, State, District, and Local levels, besides being accessible  to  the  general  public.  Timely  availability  of  river  flow  conditions,  flood forecasts,  and  reservoir  storage  data  strengthens  preparedness,  early  warning,  and coordinated response during flood situations. Since its launch, CWC has been continuously sensitizing  and  engaging  stakeholders  through  various  platforms  such  as  workshops, trainings, review meetings, and conferences to promote wider adoption of the application. CWC  takes  immense  steps  and  adopts  various  dissemination  mechanisms  to  ensure maximum  reach  of  the  flood  warnings  produced,  so  that  mitigation  measures  can  be adopted by State Governments, State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA), National

Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), and the Public. The total number of downloads till date from the Android (Google Play Store) is 35.1k, while from the iOS (Apple App Store) is 2.58k. For wider outreach, the app is prominently displayed on the CWC's official website and showcased in national exhibitions, including the most recent World Trade Fair. The flood forecasts formulated by CWC are disseminated to all stakeholders through the Flood  Forecasting  Website,  FloodWatch  India  2.0  App,  e-mail,  WhatsApp,  Facebook (CWCOfficial.FF), X (Twitter CWCOfficial\_FF), and the 'CWC Flood Updates' YouTube channel.

- (d) Yes.  The  IMD  provides  threshold-based,  impact-based  forecasts  and  risk-based  early warnings, which are colour-coded, to all the districts of the country. A suitable colour code is  used  to  highlight  the  impact  of  the  severe  weather  expected  and  signal  disaster management about the course of action to be taken regarding an impending severe weather event.  IMD's  Impact-Based  Forecasting  (IBF)  provides  localized  risk  assessments  for vulnerable populations in advance of extreme events.

CWC monitors the floods in three categories with assigned colors, namely Above NormalYellow(River water level between Warning level & Danger level), Severe-Orange(River water level between danger level & Highest Flood Level), and Extreme-Red (River Water Level  above  Highest  Flood  Level).  As  per  the  Ministry  of  Home  Affairs  Standard Operating  Procedure  (SOP),  Above  Normal  flood  situation  is  updated  on  daily  basis, Severe Flood is updated on 6 hourly basis and Extreme Flood is updated on 3 hourly basis.

Sachet  is  disseminating  alerts,  which  are  colour-coded.  SDMAs  are  converting  the forecast/warnings received from five Warnings & Forecast generating Agencies (AGAs)India  Meteorological  Department  (IMD),  Central  Water  Commission  (CWC),  Indian National  Centre  for  Ocean  Information  Services  (INCOIS),  Defence  Geoinformatics Research Establishment (DGRE), and Forest Survey of India (FSI) into impact-based alerts before dissemination on the Sachet platform.

- (e) Yes,  since  inception,  Sachet  disseminates  alerts  to  all  States  &  UTs,  and  till  now approximately  89  thousand  alerts  have  been  generated  on  the  SACHET  Platform,  and 11000 Crore SMSs have been sent to the citizens. At present, there are nearly 13.98 lakh Mobile App Users and 31.57 thousand Browser Notification users in the country.

NDMA regularly  undertakes  targeted  campaigns  to  inform,  educate,  and  raise  public awareness  about  various  hazards  and  disaster  management  initiatives,  including  the SACHET App/Portal.

Awareness  about  the  SACHET  App/Portal  is  being  disseminated  consistently  through electronic and print media, specialized field-based outreach activities such as awareness van campaigns, Nukkad Natak, focused social media campaigns, proactive sharing of the QR  code  across  digital  and  print  events,  including  Maha  Kumbh  2025  and  the  India International Trade Fair (IITF).

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