Blitz Bureau
THE Bharat Forecast System — one of the world’s first indigenously developed high-resolution weather forecast models — was launched New Delhi recently. Developed by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, the Bharat Forecast System marks a significant technological milestone, enhancing India’s weather prediction resolution from 12 km to 6 km. With this, India can now provide more accurate, village-level weather forecasts, bolstering preparedness across sectors including agriculture, disaster management, and transport.
Union Minister of Earth Sciences Jitendra Singh said the system is a major step forward under the government’s ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ and ‘Make in India’ initiatives. He said that as India rises to become the fourth largest economy in the world, precision in weather forecasting will support economic growth by reducing potential losses and improving outcomes, particularly in climate-sensitive sectors. “This indigenous breakthrough positions India among the global leaders in weather prediction,” said the Minister. “It is a proud testament to the country’s growing self-reliance in science and technology.”
A unique aspect of the Bharat Forecast System is that it is being led by four women scientists, in alignment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of empowering ‘Nari Shakti’ in science. “Our Science Ministries are no longer empowering women — we are being empowered by them,” Singh said.
The Bharat Forecast System is based on the advanced ‘Triangular Cubic Octahedral Grid model’, which enables real-time modelling. It has demonstrated a 30 per cent improvement in forecasting extreme rainfall events and a 64 per cent enhancement in predictions within core monsoon zones. Singh highlighted that the development of this system is entirely indigenous — from conception to execution — and that it will also benefit other tropical regions across the globe, which face complex and variable weather patterns.
