CHENNAI: With several states coming under the grip of heat wave and extreme drought, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) is looking to expand its network by adding 11 new C-band Doppler weather radars and provide a region-specific forecast for farmers to promote smart agriculture. For the first time, IMD has also built an interface with Medical Council of India (MCI) and Red Cross to tackle heat wave and keep a check on mortality rate. In a detailed interview with Express, on the sidelines of an event at National Institute of Ocean Technology, KJ Ramesh, director general of Meteorology, IMD, spoke on various aspects and plans to make the department more farmer-friendly. Excerpts...
There has been demand for specific information on monsoon for farms from people like MS Swaminathan, an internationally acclaimed agri-scientist. Your take?
We are taking several steps to make IMD advisories, website and other tools interactive and farmer-friendly. This monsoon, we will be bringing distinction in our advisories between rain-fed and irrigation agriculture. Rain-fed is more important for cereals, oilseeds and pulses, where 50 per cent of agricultural activity is engaged. Occurrence and non-occurrence of rain are critical. We will link it to crop calendars of each district. We have put 10 senior people in charge of agro advisory services and each one will take care of three states. They will work with state regional centres and build state-specific data.
Heat waves across the country have been severe this year. Is IMD doing anything different to caution people?
For the first time, MCI and Red Cross have started working with us. MCI will take the information directly and send to its 17,000 chapters in India. When patients come in, they record and create datasets — like the number of people affected by heat stroke and heat-related problems. This practice will help us when incidents of vector-borne and water-borne diseases start happening during the monsoon. So, that interface with MCI will help in documenting the spread of incidents. If an early warning is there, we can stop epidemic occurrences. On the outreach side, Red Cross will chip in with awareness programmes. We are planning to set-up Climate Outlook Forums in each district. To start with, we have asked Red Cross to identify one district in each state on a pilot scale. Some NGOs are also working along as knowledge partners.
Please shed some light on India’s Doppler weather radar network.
Currently, we have 24 DWRs (used to detect precipitation, its motion and type — rain, snow, hail etc) of S-band and X-band. We have sent the proposal for installation of 11 new C-band DWRs for which approval is expected soon. Under Integrated Himalayan Metrology Programme, 10 X-band DWRs of 80 km range will be installed in the major towns of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir. Already, DWR has been installed at Srinagar to cater to the needs of Amarnath Yatra. This apart, the Indian Air Force is augmenting 11 C-band DWRs, which will boost the coverage.
Most of the East Coast is covered from Karaikal to Kolkata. ISRO is upgrading its S-band radar in Sriharikota, which will be a standby for Chennai. The Air Force base in Kharagpur has put up a radar and DRDO has commissioned an S-band DWR in Chandipur near Balasore in Odisha and in Thiruvananthapuram we have an ISRO radar. Coming to West Coast, the radar in Kochi is under testing. Between Kochi and Goa, we want to install a DWR in Mangaluru and one will come-up in Ratnagiri or Sindhudurg to fill the gap between Goa and Mumbai. After commissioning the proposed radar network, we will be covering all the plains and the Himalayan region and later, the Northeast.
There were some concerns over Chinese-made DWRs. DRDO raised objections over the fear of possible spyware.
There were concerns but IMD has addressed them. Though they were Chinese made, the technology was of US-based Lockheed Martin. Prior to 2008 Olympics in China, Beijing Metstar Radar Co Ltd, a venture of China National Huayun Technology Development Corp, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the China Meteorological Administration, and US-based Lockheed Martin Corp was floated to cater to China’s needs. After that, the firm started exporting DWRs. Three were installed in Karaikal, Paradeep in Odisha and Goa. DRDO checked and said OK.