India Meteorological Department

The India Meteorological Department was established in 1875. It is the National Meteorological Service of the country and the principal government agency in all matters relating to meteorology, seismology and allied subjects.

Establishment of IMD

A disastrous tropical cyclone struck Calcutta in 1864 and this was followed by failures of the monsoon rains in 1866 and 1871. In the year 1875, the Government of India established the India Meteorological Department, bringing all meteorological work in the country under a central authority. Mr. H. F. Blanford was appointed Meteorological Reporter to the Government of India. The first Director General of Observatories was Sir John Eliot who was appointed in May 1889 at Calcutta headquarters. The headquarters of IMD were later shifted to Simla, then to Poona (now Pune) and finally to New Delhi.

Mandate

• To take meteorological observations and to provide current and forecast meteorological information for optimum operation of weather-sensitive activities like agriculture, irrigation, shipping, aviation, offshore oil explorations, etc.
• To warn against severe weather phenomena like tropical cyclones, norwesters, duststorms, heavy rains and snow, cold and heat waves, etc., which cause destruction of life and property.
• To provide meteorological statistics required for agriculture, water resource management, industries, oil exploration and other nation-building activities.
• To conduct and promote research in meteorology and allied disciplines.
• To detect and locate earthquakes and to evaluate seismicity in different parts of the country for development projects.

Organisation

The Director General of Meteorology is the Head of the India Meteorological Department, with headquarters at New Delhi. There are 4 Additional Directors General at New Delhi and 1 at Pune. There are 20 Deputy Directors General of whom 10 are at New Delhi.

For the convenience of administrative and technical control, there are 6 Regional Meteorological Centres, each under a Deputy Director General with headquarters at Mumbai, Chennai, New Delhi, Calcutta, Nagpur and Guwahati. Under the administrative control of Deputy Director General, there are different types of operational units such as Meteorological Centres at state capitals, Forecasting Offices, Agrometeorological Advisory Service Centres, Flood Meteorological Offices, Area Cyclone Warning Centres and Cyclone Warning Centres.

In addition, there are separate Divisions to deal with specialised subjects. They are: -

• Agricultural Meteorology
• Civil Aviation
• Climatology
• Hydrometeorology
• Instrumentation
• Meteorological Telecommunication
• Regional Specialised Meteorological Centre
• Positional Astronomy
• Satellite Meteorology
• Seismology
• Training

The Council for Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences (CMAS) under the chairmanship of Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, has the responsibility for formulating the policies and programmes of IMD and for their implementation.

Directory of Officers at IMD

For further information on IMD please visit: www.imd.ernet.in

Contact

For more information please contact:

The Director General
India Meteorological Department
Mausam Bhawan, Lodhi Road, New Delhi-110003
Phone: 91-11-24611842
Fax: 91-11-24611792