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By Our Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI, JULY 22. The Union Science and Technology Minister, Kapil Sibal, today admitted that the India Meteorological Department (IMD) was not able to forecast the monsoon properly mainly for want of adequate equipment and said that the problem would be sorted out soon. Talking to reporters, he said that he had requested the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, for a one-time investment of Rs. 500 crores to overcome the problem during a meeting a few days ago. On Dr. Singh's advice, he would soon take up the matter with the Planning Commission.
Experts' group set up
Expressing confidence that the Commission would accept the proposal, he said once the investment was made, the IMD would be able to not only predict the weather much more efficiently, but also more precisely. It would also be able to forecast district-wise rainfalls for periods ranging up to a week. Mr. Sibal said he had set up a group of experts headed by the agriculture scientist, M.S. Swaminathan, to streamline the procedure for dissemination of rainfall and other weather-related information for farmers. The group, which includes Secretaries of various departments under his Ministry as also representatives of the Agriculture Ministry, will review the existing system and seek to fine-tune it. The group, which will particularly focus on areas such as Rajasthan and parts of Maharashtra that face drought frequently, will also review the cropping practices of farmers and suggest alternative cropping systems to ensure optimum production. "The Agriculture Ministry has a system for issuing weather advisories to farmers. But the basic information for that is provided by [the] IMD which is under the Ministry of Science and Technology. We want to look at how we can improve in terms of dissemination of the information," he said.
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