Why in the News?

The Union Cabinet, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved Mission Mausam, aimed at improving India’s weather forecasting and climate response capabilities. With a budget of ₹2,000 crore for its first two years, the mission will enhance the accuracy of predictions, weather modelling, and dissemination of information to address extreme weather events and the effects of climate change.

Mission Mausam

• Implementation: Three institutes of the Ministry of Earth Sciences: the India Meteorological Department, the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, and the National Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting.
• Objective: To improve the accuracy and effectiveness of weather predictions by enhancing the capacity for weather modeling, forecasting and data dissemination.
• Key Beneficiaries: Agriculture, aviation, defence, disaster management, tourism and health.
• Features: Deployment of next-generation radars and satellite systems with advanced sensors, high-performance supercomputers, the development of enhanced Earth system models and a GIS-based automated decision support system for real-time data sharing.

Ministry of Earth Sciences

• Established: 2006
• Minister: Jitendra Singh
• It focuses on the study of earth sciences, including atmospheric sciences, oceanography, geology, and seismology.
• Mission
  • To provide services for weather, climate, ocean and coastal state, hydrology, seismology and natural hazards.
  • To explore and harness marine living and non-living resources in a sustainable manner.
  • To explore the three poles of the Earth (Arctic, Antarctic and Himalayas).
• It is a merger of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune (IITM) the Earth Risk Evaluation Centre (EREC) and the Ministry of Ocean Development.