Each block to get weather forecast system: Harsh Vardhan

Union minister Harsh Vardhan today announced that under the National Monsoon Mission (NMM) weather forecast systems will be provided at the block level in the next two years.
"We have launched the Rs 400 crore National Monsoon Mission under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modiji. Under this project, in the next two years, we will be in a condition to provide weather forecast system at block level. It will see dramatic improvement in weather forecast through scientifically advanced models," the minister for Science and Technology said.
The minister, who also holds the portfolio of earth sciences, was here to inaugurate the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) for Ahmedabad, under which three-day forecast related to air quality, harmful radiation, weather and alert for extreme events, will be provided.

He also said that the earth sciences ministry was working on a deep-earth research project at Koyna in Maharashtra for earthquake prediction.
"We started a project worth Rs 500 crore, under which we have installed sensors 5-7 km inside the earth at Koyna in Maharashtra, which experiences frequent earthquakes...We have also been working to record pressure and density at ionosphere since the last one and half years, and will be doing so in the coming time," he said.
The minister said that India has taken huge strides in the field of earth sciences and is actually providing early warning system to over 3 dozen coastal countries in predicting tsunami and cyclone.

"We have created such an advanced early warning system for tsunami and cyclone that we are sharing information with around 30-40 countries which are situated along the coastline," he said.

"Weather details provided to 21 million farmers in the country has left Rs 50,000 crore positive impact on India's GDP, according to a 2015 report of National Council for Applied Economic Research," he said.
On SAFAR, Harsh Vardhan said that the system provided in Ahmedabad was the most advanced in four cities, where it has been launched so far, as it can even detect PM1, the minutest particle in the air.

SAFAR is an early warning system for local people with advanced information on air quality, related awareness to deal with it adverse impact.