Earth Sciences on Environment: 2013-14

Q. No. Q. Type Date Ans by Members Title of the Questions Subject Specific Political State Ministry Party Representati ve *157 07.03.2013 Smt. Ingrid Mcleod Climate Change and Earth Sciences INC Chhattisgarh Starred Deep Sea Drilling Ship Meteorology

Installation of Weather 1626 Unstarred 07.03.2013 Earth Sciences Energy Studies BJD Radar Shri Nityananda Pradhan Odisha 1670 Unstarred 07.03.2013 Earth Sciences Impact of Climate Change Shri Jayaram Pangi Energy Studies BJD Odisha Installation of doppler Shri Deoraj Singh Patel Madhya 1709 Unstarred 07.03.2013 Earth Sciences Energy Studies BSP radar in Bhopal Pradesh Madhya Shri Premchandra Guddu INC EIA Pradesh Modernisation Of Doppler 2802 Unstarred 14.03.2013 Earth Sciences Energy Studies INC Goa Radar Shri Francisco Sardinha Shri Sambasiva Rayapati Rao

2840 Unstarred 14.03.2013 Earth Sciences Weather Forecast INC Climate Change and Andhra Meteorology Pradesh Shri Sai Prathap Andhra Energy Studies INC Annayyagari Pradesh Smt. Shruti Choudhry Environmental Conservation INC Haryana Shri Nityananda Pradhan EIA BJD Odisha Shri Ambica Banerjee AITC

National Centre For Earth 3948 Unstarred 21.03.2013 Earth Sciences Energy Studies INC Sciences Shri P. T. Thomas Kerala Climate Change and 3959 Unstarred 21.03.2013 Earth Sciences Monsoon forecast Shri A.K.S. Vijayan DMK Tamil Nadu Meteorology

Strengthening of Indian *422 Starred 25.04.2013 Earth Sciences INC Forecasting System Shri Madhu Goud Yaskhi Climate Change and Andhra Meteorology Pradesh Environmental Education, Shri Pradeep Kumar Majhi INC NGOs and Media Odisha *439 Starred 25.04.2013 Earth Sciences Conversion of Sea Water Alternative Technologies INC

into Drinking Water Shri Vilas Baburao Muttemwar

Shri Jagdish Sharma Water Management JD(U) Bihar

Upgradation of 4836 Unstarred 25.04.2013 Earth Sciences Climate Change and BSP Infrastructure of IMD Shri Kapil Muni Karwariya Meteorology Shri N. Chaluvaraya 5784 Unstarred 02.05.2013 Earth Sciences Frequency of Earthquakes Disaster Management JD(S) Karnataka Swamy Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal EIA BJP Rajasthan Climate Change and HJC 5786 Unstarred 02.05.2013 Earth Sciences Shri Kuldeep Bishnoi Prediction of Torrential Rain Haryana Meteorology Installation of Weather 5813 Unstarred 02.05.2013 Earth Sciences Shri Adhi Sankar DMK Tamil Nadu Radars EIA *73 Starred 08.08.2013 Shri Sambandam Coastal Ocean Monitoring Climate Change and Earth Sciences INC Tamil Nadu Keerapalayam Alagiri and Prediction System Meteorology Shri Mansukhbhai D. Environmental Education, BJP Gujarat Vasava NGOs and Media *80 Starred 08.08.2013 Shri Jose K. Mani Prediction of Monsoon Climate Change and Earth Sciences Meteorology KC(M) Kerala 693 08.08.2013 Shri Nalin Kumar Kateel Average Rainfall during Climate Change and Unstarred Earth Sciences BJP Monsoon Meteorology Karnataka 761 08.08.2013 Shri Sameer Magan Weather Forecasting Climate Change and Unstarred Earth Sciences NCP Bhujbal Meteorology Maharashtra 765 08.08.2013 Shri Tarachand Bhagora Installation of Doppler Climate Change and Unstarred Earth Sciences INC Radars Meteorology Rajasthan 776 08.08.2013 Shri Dhananjay Singh Prediction of Weather Climate Change and Unstarred Earth Sciences BSP Meteorology Uttar Pradesh Shri Raosaheb Patil Danve Disaster Management BJP Maharashtra Shri Chandre D.B. Gowda Environmental Education, BJP NGOs and Media Karnataka Prof. AITC West Bengal Shri S. R. Jeyadurai DMK Tamil Nadu Dr. Ponnusamy

Venugopal AIADMK Tamil Nadu Dr. Munisamy AIADMK Thambidurai Tamil Nadu Shri Asaduddin Owaisi Andhra

AIMIM Pradesh 872 08.08.2013 Smt. Jyoti Dhurve Conversion of Ocean Energy Studies Madhya Unstarred Earth Sciences BJP Thermal Energy Pradesh

Shri Naranbhai Kachhadia Alternative Technologies BJP Gujarat 2097 22.08.2013 Shri Jai Prakash Agarwal Climate Change at North Climate Change and Unstarred Earth Sciences INC Pole Meteorology Delhi 2271 22.08.2013 Dr. (Shri) Ajay Kumar Cloud Aerosol Interaction Unstarred Earth Sciences and Precipitation Climate Change and Enhancement Experiment Meteorology JVM (P) Jharkhand *272 Starred 29.08.2013 Shri Baijayant "Jay" Weather Forecasting System Climate Change and BJD Earth Sciences Panda Meteorology Odisha 2997 29.08.2013 Shri Rakesh Singh Forewarning of Cloudburst BJP Madhya Unstarred Earth Sciences Disaster Management Pradesh 3117 29.08.2013 Shri Sameer Magan Real Time Weather Forecast Climate Change and NCP Unstarred Earth Sciences Bhujbal Meteorology Maharashtra 3197 29.08.2013 Shri Jai Prakash Agarwal Progress made in Earth Climate Change and INC Delhi Unstarred Earth Sciences Sciences Meteorology 3202* 29.08.2013 Shri Syed Shahnawaz Details of Earthquakes BJP Bihar Unstarred Earth Sciences Disaster Management Hussain 3210 29.08.2013 Shri Hansraj Gangaram Prediction on Ocean BJP Unstarred Earth Sciences Disaster Management Ahir Weather Maharashtra *14 Starred 05.12.2013 Earth Sciences Shri S.S. Ramasubbu Earthquake in Delhi Disaster Management INC Tamil Nadu Shri INC Maharashtra 18 05.12.2013 Smt. Darshana Vikram Functioning of IMD Climate Change and BJP Gujarat Unstarred Earth Sciences Jardosh Meteorology 25 05.12.2013 Dr. Kirodilal Meena Seismic Forecasting Climate Change and Ind. Unstarred Earth Sciences Meteorology Rajasthan 67 05.12.2013 Shri A.K.S. Vijayan Tsunami Warning System Climate Change and DMK Tamil Nadu Unstarred Earth Sciences Meteorology 69 05.12.2013 Shri S. Pakkirappa Study of Earth Sciences Environmental Education, BJP Karnataka Unstarred Earth Sciences NGOs and Media 139 05.12.2013 Shri Gowdar National Monsoon Mission BJP Karnataka Unstarred Earth Sciences Mallikarjunappa Environmental Education, Siddeshwara NGOs and Media 147 Unstarred 05.12.2013 Earth Sciences Shri Hamdullah Sayeed Desalination Plants Water Management INC Lakshadweep 183 05.12.2013 Shri Anurag Singh Thakur Research on Climate Change Climate Change and BJP Himachal Unstarred Earth Sciences Meteorology Pradesh 210 05.12.2013 Shri Anand Prakash Forecast Mechanism Climate Change and SS Unstarred Earth Sciences Paranjpe Meteorology Maharashtra Shri Eknath Mahadeo Disaster Management Gaikwad INC Maharashtra Shri Subhash Bapurao SS

Wankhede Maharashtra *109 Starred 12.12.2013 Shri Vilas Baburao Rise in Sea Level Climate Change and INC Earth Sciences Muttemwar Meteorology Maharashtra

1162 12.12.2013 Shri S. Pakkirappa Long Range Forecasts Environmental Education, BJP Karnataka Unstarred Earth Sciences NGOs and Media 1184 12.12.2013 Shri N. Peethambara Study on Climate Change Climate Change and INC Unstarred Earth Sciences Kurup Meteorology Kerala 1289 12.12.2013 Shri Jai Prakash Agarwal Global Warming Climate Change and INC Delhi Unstarred Earth Sciences Meteorology 1293 12.12.2013 Shri Satpal Maharaj Weather Forecast Environmental Education, INC Uttarakhand Unstarred Earth Sciences NGOs and Media 1373 12.12.2013 Shri Anurag Singh Thakur Cloud Aerosol Interaction BJP Himachal Unstarred Earth Sciences and Precipitation Pollution Pradesh Enhancement Experiment 2575 06.02.2014 Shri P. Karunakaran Setting Up of Research Climate Change and Unstarred Earth Sciences Centre Meteorology CPI(M) Kerala 3759 13.02.2014 Shri Anurag Singh Thakur Weather Forecasting Climate Change and BJP Himachal Unstarred Earth Sciences Meteorology Pradesh *397 Starred 20.02.2014 Shri Bhismshankar Alias Forecasting Capability BSP Uttar Pradesh Earth Sciences Disaster Management Kushal Tiwari 4284 20.02.2014 Shri Gowdar Production of Drinking BJP Karnataka Unstarred Earth Sciences Mallikarjunappa Water from Sea Water Water Management Siddeshwara 4324 20.02.2014 Shri Sambandam Prediction of Natural INC Tamil Nadu Unstarred Earth Sciences Disaster Management Keerapalayam Alagiri Calamities in Coastal Areas Shri Mansukhbhai D. Climate Change and Vasava Meteorology BJP Gujarat 4381 20.02.2014 Shri Anto Antony Air Quality Monitoring and INC Unstarred Earth Sciences Pollution Forecast Kerala

DEEP SEA DRILLING SHIP 7th March, 2013

LSQ *157

SMT. INGRID MCLEOD

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) whether the Government proposes to get a drilling ship from United States, or Japan to drill and collect samples from deep sea to build data base for climate assessment;

(b) if so, the details thereof, and the estimated cost of the drilling ship;

(c) the manner in which it would help to make better climate and monsoon predictions; and

(d) the time by which the said ship is likely to be obtained?

MINISTER FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) - (d) A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

STATEMENT LAID ON THE TABLE OF THE LOK SABHA IN REPLY (a) to (d) OF STARRED QUESTION No. 157 REGARDING “DEEP SEA DRILLING SHIP” TO BE ANSWERED ON THURSDAY, MARCH 07, 2013

(a) Yes, Madam.

(b) The Ministry of Earth Sciences, Govt. Of signed an MoU with National Science Foundation (NSF), USA and Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan to become an Associate Member of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) - a consortium for scientific drilling in the ocean. The sediment and ocean crust cores obtained by the consortium have helped scientists significantly in unraveling several fundamental discoveries in last three decades. IODP employs two exclusive drilling platforms namely – JOIDES Resolution (managed by USA) and Chikyu (managed by Japan) to obtain deep sea sediment samples.

Soon after joining the consortium, India submitted a scientific proposal for drilling in the Arabian Sea to obtain deep sea sediment samples to decipher the link between the Himalayan uplift and Indian Monsoon. Testing of this hypothesis requires sediment samples from the deep sea fans that are eroded from Himalaya and deposited on the seafloor in Arabian Sea over several million years. The IODP vessel platforms routinely drill and obtain cores from below the ocean bottom for research for unraveling the earths dynamics and reconstruction of the past including the climate. The India IODP proposal, which is currently under scientific review by the consortium, intends to obtain deep sea sedimentary cores up to 1.5 km below the seafloor in the Arabian Sea in around 3.5 km water depth.

The cost estimates would depend upon the availability of the drilling platform (e.g. JR or Chikyu). It will be clear only after the acceptance of the Indian IODP proposal.

(c) The proposed sediment cores would allow scientists to examine the link between past uplift of Himalaya and the variability of Indian Monsoon over several millennia. Based on the principle that knowledge from the past would help us predict the future, the data derived from these sediment cores would allow us to understand long-term monsoonal variability and to construct the climate models which would in turn help us in understanding future dynamics of monsoon.

(d) The availability of the drilling platform depends upon the successful recommendations of the Indian IODP proposal from several IODP review panels. It is under consideration with the external review panel of the IODP.

INSTALLATION OF WEATHER RADAR 7th March, 2013

LSQ 1626

SHRI NITYANANDA PRADHAN

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) whether it is proposed to install C-band weather radar at Mausam Bhavan, ;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) the extent to which it would improve weather forecast and help the farmers and others in the country;

(d) whether such radars are also proposed to be installed in other parts of the country; and

(e) if so, the details thereof?

MINISTER FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) No Madam as C-Band Doppler Weather Radar (DWTR) has been commissioned on 19M December, 2011 and is functional since then.

(b) Does not arise.

(c) Government of India through Earth System Science Organization (ESSO)-IMD has operationalized its location specific nowcasting weather service across the country including the web based inputs. Under this service activity, that covers 117 urban centres currently on experimental basis, nowcast of severe weather (Thunderstorms; heavy rainfall from lows/depressions over the land) in 3-6h range is issued. Origin, development/movement of severe weather phenomena are regularly monitored through DWRS and with all available other observing systems (Automatic Weather Stations- AWSs; Automatic Rain Gauges-ARGs; Automatic Weather Observing Systems- AWOS; satellite derived wind vectors, temperature, moisture fields etc.) are assimilated to generate predictions (prepared both in text as well as in graphical form) on 3h time range. Web GIS rendering of the nowcast products is implemented for enhanced spatial representation of the severe weather intensities associated with warnings. For the farming community, however, district scale integrated agro-meteorological advisory service that disseminates crop- specific advisories through SMS, IVRS, vernacular visual/print media channels is already functional with twice weekly mode of advisory dissemination mechanism.

(d) Yes Madam.

(e) As of now, 17 S/C-Band DWTRs are commissioned at Chennai, Sriharikota, Machilipatram, Visakhapatnam, , Mumbai, Bhuj, Hyderabad, Nagpur, Patiaia, Delhi Palam, Lucknow, Patna. Mohanbari, Agartala, Delhi Lodi Road and Jaipur. DWP . at Bhopal is under commissioning. In a phased manner, the expansion of the DWR network to cover the whole country needs to be taken up as sustenance of such country wide networks demands augmentation of massive infrastructure (land/office/line of sight elevated tower), support service systems (power/cooling/ water/spares & services/ operating frequency clearance/security clearance, manpower etc.) across various states/UTs.

IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE 7th March, 2013

LSQ 1670

SHRI JAYARAM PANGI

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) whether the climate change in polar regions have impacts on Indian monsoon;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether the Union Government have any plans to study the same; and

(d) if so, the details thereof?

MINISTER FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) Yes Madam.

(b) The Arctic and Antarctic regions are known to be very sensitive to global climate change. Hence, it is highly desirable to improve our understanding of how they respond to climate change, and how those responses in turn affect both regional and global climate. Hence, it is perceived that the Polar Regions can potentially display climate diversity in various spatial and temporal scales, which ultimately affects the monsoon weather and climate over the Indian sub-continent.

(c) Yes Madam.

(d) Emphasizing the need for building an expanded monitoring of climate change, as well as building appropriate R & D eiforts on the possible responses and feedbacks of the Polar Regions to climate change, a research study has been formulated. In order to engage the international science community on these activities, a concept note was prepared and discussed during the Belmont Forum (a group of the world`s major and emerging economies and funders of global environmental change research and international science councils) meeting held in New Delhi during 27-28 February, 2013.

INSTALLATION OF DOPPLER RADAR IN BHOPAL 7th March, 2013

LSQ 1709

SHRI DEORAJ SINGH PATEL SHRIPREMCHANDRA GUDDU

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) whether there is a proposal to install Doppler Weather Radar in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh for which land and building both are available; and

(b) if so, the time by which the installation work is likely to be completed?

MINISTER FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) Yes Madam.

(b) Currently, civil/electrical works, cooling/power systems etc. are in their final stage of completion. The DWR commissioning work and site acceptance of the system is estimated to be completed by the end of 2013.

MODERNISATION OF DOPPLER RADAR 14th March, 2013

LSQ 2802

SHRI FRANCISCO SARDINHA

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) whether the Government has initiated any modernisation scheme for deploying Doppler Radars; and

(b) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

MINISTER FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) Yes Madam. Establishment of Doppler Weather Radar (DWR) network is part of the overall modernization of observing systems, communication, analysis-visualization-product dissemination systems, High Performance Computing systems, and operational forecast systems of the Earth System Science Organization – India Meteorological Department (ESSO-IMD).

(b) As of now, 17 S/C-Band DWRs are commissioned at Chennai, Sriharikota, Machilipatnam, Visakhapatnam, Kolkata, Mumbai, Bhuj, Hyderabad, Nagpur, Patiala, Delhi Palam, Lucknow, Patna, Mohanbari, Agartala, Delhi Lodi Road and Jaipur. DWR at Bhopal is under commissioning. In a phased manner, the expansion of the DWR network to cover the whole country needs to be taken up as sustenance of such country wide networks demands augmentation of massive infrastructure (land/office/line of sight elevated tower), support service systems (power/cooling/ water/spares & services/ operating frequency clearance/security clearance, manpower etc.) across various states/UTs.

WEATHER FORECAST 14th March, 2013

LSQ 2840

SHRI SAMBASIVA RAYAPATI RAO SHRI SAI PRATHAP ANNAYYAGARI SMT SHRUTI CHOUDHRY SHRI NITYANANDA PRADHAN SHRI AMBICA BANERJEE

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) the details of the system in place to forecast whether in the country accurately;

(b) the details of the advises generally issued to farmers to face rains, and other natural calamities;

(c) the details of normal and actual rainfall and snowfall noticed during the last six months in the country, State/UT-wise;

(d) whether the Indian Meteorological Department has not been giving correct forecast of monsoon rains including the long range forecasts; and

(e) if so, the reaction of the Government thereto along with the action plan chalked out by the Government in this regard?

MINISTER FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) Improvement of weather forecasting services is a continuous process. As part of its XI five year plan, Government has initiated a comprehensive modernization programme for Earth System Science Organization-India Meteorological Department (ESSO-IMD) covering upgradation of i) observation systems (ii) advanced data assimilation tools(iii) advanced communication and IT infrastructure (iv) high performance computing systems and (v) intensive/sophisticated training of IMD personnel to facilitate the implementation of advanced global/regional/meso-scale prediction models for improving the accuracy of weather forecasts in all temporal and spatial scales and for quick dissemination of weather forecast assessments/warnings to the users.

Operational implementation of improved forecast suite of models after the commissioning of the High Performance Computing (HPC) systems have enhanced the weather forecasting capacities through assimilating all available global satellite radiance data for the production of forecast products at 22Km grid globally and 9Kms/3Kms grid over India/regional/mega city domains.

The performance evaluation of the updated global/meso-scale forecast systems for the past 5-7 years have demonstrated enhanced forecast skill by about 18% quantitatively as far as the track and landfall forecasts of the tropical cyclones are concerned.

As and when the cyclone systems move in to the 500Km surveillance range of DWRs, identification of strong wind zones and pockets of heavy rainfall within the core cyclone area is carried out and their rapid changes are monitored on continuous basis. IMD currently operates 5- Doppler Weather Radars (DWR) at Chennai, Machilipatnam, Visakhapatnam, Kolkata, Sriharikota on the east coast along with a network of Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) and Automatic Rain Gauges (ARG) for continuous weather surveillance over the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea.

ESSO-IMD has operationalized its location specific nowcasting weather service across the country. This service activity currently covers 117 urban centres on experimental basis under which nowcast of severe weather (Thunderstorms; heavy rainfall from lows/depressions over the land) in 3-6h range is issued. Origin, development/movement of severe weather phenomena are regularly monitored through DWRs and with all available other observing systems (AWSs; ARGs; Automatic Weather Observing Systems-AWOS; satellite derived wind vectors, temperature, moisture fields etc.)

(b) Integrated Agro-meteorological Advisory Service (AAS) is rendered now on twice-weekly basis in collaboration with State Agricultural Universities (SAUs), institutions of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) etc. Realized weather of the previous week and quantitative district level weather forecast for next 5-days in respect of rainfall, maximum temperature, minimum temperature, wind speed, wind direction, relative humidity and clouds as well as weekly cumulative rainfall forecast are provided. Further, crop specific advisories, generated in partnership with SAUs and ICAR, to help the farmers are issued and widely disseminated. The AAS of ESSO-IMD has been successful in providing the crop specific advisories to the farmers at the district/agro-climatic zone level twice weekly through different print/visual/Radio/ IT based wider dissemination media including short message service (SMS) and Interactive Voice Response Service (IVRS) facilitating for appropriate field level actions.

(c) The details of normal and actual rainfall for September 2012 to February 2013 is given in Annexure-I and precipitation (snowfall and rainfall together) during the last six month in the country is given in Annexure-II. It is to mention that the stations in J & K and Himachal Pradesh (as mentioned in Table-2 and Table-3 of the Annexure) have indeed recorded above normal precipitation (largely solid precipitation – snow/ice) during the month Feb., 2013.

(d) No Sir. The accuracy of short range (up to 3-days in advance) monsoon forecasts is found to be of the order of 70-95%. The skill of district level medium range rainfall forecast (up to 5-7days in advance) is 75-85% in monsoon season and more than 85% in non-monsoon seasons. The operational monsoon onset forecast over Kerala has been found to be correct (within the forecast limits) during all the 8 years (2005-2012).

The present long range forecasting system based on the statistical models has shown some useful skill in predicting the all India season rainfall and the methodology has performed better than the earlier models that were updated in 2003. Details of the forecast errors are presented below:

Period No. of years during No. of years during No. of years during Which Errors were Which Errors were Which Errors were Within ±4% Within ±4-8% higher than ±8% 2003-12 5 ( 2003; 2005; 2 (2006; 2011) 3 (2004; 2007; 2009) 2008; 2010; 2012) 1993-02 2 (1993; 1995) 4 (1996; 1998; 4 (1994; 1997; 2000; 2001) 1999; 2002)

(e) However, in order to overcome the limitations of the statistical models used so far for long-range monsoon rainfall forecasts, dynamical model framework is currently put under experimentation and performance evaluation under the National Monsoon Mission

Annexure referred to the Lok Sabha starred Question No.2840 for answer on 14.03.2013. Annexure Table-I Actual and Mean monthly precipitation of stations under ‘Prawat’ Project Months Stations S. No. Sept 2012 Oct. 2012 Nov. 2012 Dec. 2012 Jan 2013 Feb. 2013

Actual Mean Actual Mean Actual Mean Actual Mean Actual Mean Actual Mean BANIHAL 1. NA 66.3 NA 15.2 NA 41.1 183 67.1 86 165.8 228 25.2 TOP(J&K) 2. GULMARG(J&K) 85.0 593.1 29.0 28.7 NA 56.7 78 82.5 68 129.2 194 180.1 3. HADDAN TAJ 59.0 96.6 15.0 35.6 NA 41.5 146 112.6 79 164.0 47 201.8 4. STAGE-II (J&K) 43.0 74.0 17.0 30.8 NA 45.0 129 109.3 79 180.5 327 208.3 PHARKIYAN 5. 90.0 81.8 31.0 23.7 4.0 42.2 97 87.5 42 176.6 202 267.8 (J&K) 6. KANZALWAN 47.0 56.7 21.0 30.8 NA 46.6 101 109.9 77 167.3 156 286.7 7. Z-GALI- NA 75.8 NA 30.0 1 43.8 123 86.5 60 163.6 161 254.7 8. DRASS (J&K) 33.0 27.3 4.0 6.4 4 13.9 18 42.7 15 52.9 61 91.9 PUTTAKHAN 9. 60.0 53.3 22.0 24.7 1 34.7 133 63.5 26 109.5 128 146.4 (J&K) 10. RAGNI (J&K) 44.0 37.0 21.0 30.0 50.0 34.0 217 76.0 65 131.0 243 172.0 11. SONAPINDI 138.0 37.0 32.0 13.0 56.0 35.0 99 88.0 23 141.0 32 143 12. NIRU (J&K) 1.0 24.0 3.0 26 NA 36 30 67 NA 143 173 150 13. DAWAR (J&K) 16.0 25 16.0 22 21 28 50 55 27 89 130 140 SONMARG 14. 109.0 61 4.0 22 45 29 47 59 34 115 81 161 (J&K) BIMBAT LC 15. NA 50 2.0 30 5 51 23 82 15 93 76 147 (J&K) FIRM BASE 16. NA 45 NA 22 NA 59 34 61 10 93 26 111 (J&K) 17. KAKSAR (J&K) 10.0 9 NA 14 NA 7 16 32 10 34 3 47 18. GUGALDAR 53.0 42 21.0 24 20 22 29 61 24 113 198 127 19. BHANG (H.P) NA 114 NA 24 14 28 114 44 83 93 138 118 20. SOLANG (H.P) 251.0 122 8.0 25 11 27 111 61 63 104 178 144 21. DHUNDI (H.P) 248.0 138 4.0 35 8 32 111 88 74 147 276 257 22. PATSIO (H.P) 7.0 61 NA 19 NA 24 33 33 24 54 209 98

* Mean based on 2001-2011 Table-2 Actual and normal precipitation (in mm) of departmental stations in Jammu & Kashmir

September 12 October 12 November 12 December 12 January 13 February 13 Station Actual Normal Actual Normal Actual Normal Actual Normal Actual Normal Actual Normal Srinagar 111 32 11 33 22.5 26 27.1 49 58.7 57 111.9 68 Jammu 211 154 3 27 3.3 12 59.3 47 44.6 58 145.2 61 Katra 228 182 1 39 14.6 27 98.3 108 74.0 96 222.0 122 Batote 208 68 6 48 31.2 68 114.7 14 132.5 143 370.0 224 Bhaderwah 118 89 3 45 12.8 51 90.4 112 76.4 109 320.0 164 Banihal 110 61 14 39 28.4 59 119.4 108 95.8 142 304.9 200 Kukernag 97 38 9 46 23.5 56 36.9 85 97.4 81 158.6 135 Pahalgaum 168 64 21 46 28.4 39 68.0 44 156.2 67 283.9 65 Kupwara 144 39 47 57 10.8 67 114.8 86 88.6 87 211.7 137 Quazigund 132 59 11 48 22.4 49 115.4 97 106.6 130 228.6 176

Table-3 Actual and normal precipitation of the departmental stations of Himachal Pradesh

Sep. 2012 Oct. 2012 Nov. 2012 Dec. 2012 Jan. 2013 Feb. 2013 STATIONS Actual Normal Actual Normal Actual Normal Actual Normal Actual Normal Actual Normal Shimla 165.1 176.0 7.9 48.3 2.7 12.6 18.7 17.4 121.4 64.6 195.9 45.2 Sundernagar 132.0 147.1 0.0 32.4 12.2 19.1 24.3 24.5 68.6 86.1 167.4 70.4 Bhuntar 133.4 78.2 4.3 31.7 15.4 11.3 31.7 43.5 97.4 102.6 185.8 97.5 Kalpa 38.0 54.7 0.6 33.2 1.5 13.8 18.1 37.6 143.3 98.1 244.7 106.6

NATIONAL CENTRE FOR EARTH SCIENCES 21st March, 2013

LSQ 3948

SHRI P. T. THOMAS

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) Whether the Government is considering a proposal received from the State Government of Kerala for the Establishment of National Centre for Earth Sciences Studies in Thiruvananlhapuram; and

(b) if so. the details thereof and the time by which the said proposal is likely to be finalised ?

MINISTER FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY Or EARTH SCIENCES (SHRIS.JAIPALRHDDY)

(a) Yes Madam. Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) has received a proposal from State Government of Kerala to take over Centre for Earth Sciences Studies. Thiruvananthapuram. The proposal is under consideration.

(b) MoES has constituted an Expert Committee for examining the proposal for taking over CESS in 2012. The Committee has submitted its detailed report to MoES. The recommendations contained in the report arc under consideration of the Government.

MONSOON FORECAST

21st March 2013

LSQ 3959

SHRI A.K.S. VIJAYAN

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) whether the India Meteorological Department (IMD) is aware of the dismal monsoon forecast;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) the details of monsoon related projections of IMD during the last three years, current year and the corresponding actual figures;

(d) the statistically acceptable margin of error between the projections and actual observation and whether such a difference lies between those figures; and

(e) if so, the details thereof?

MINISTER FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) Earth System Science Organization (ESSO) - IMDs monsoon forecasts are not at all found to be dismal as far as the verification of last 10-years long range forecasts of monsoon are concerned. Details of the forecast errors are presented below:

Period No. of years during No. of years during No. of years during Which Errors were Which Errors were Which Errors were Within ±4% Within ±4-8% higher than ±8% 2003-12 5 (2003; 2005; 2 (2006; 2011) 3 (2004; 2007; 2008; 2010; 2012) 2009) 1993-02 2(1993; 1995) 4(1996; 1998; 4(1994; 1997; 2000;2001) 199;2002)

(b) Does not arise.

(c) Monsoon projections of ESSO-IMD for the last three years are presented in Annexure.

(d) The present level of operational acceptability of error margins are of 4% and 5% for the forecasts of all-India seasonal monsoon rainfall issued in June and April respectively every year.

(e) The present long range forecasting system based on the statistical models has shown some useful skill in predicting the all India season rainfall and the methodology has performed better than the earlier models that were updated in 2003 as per the details presented at (a) above.

STRENGTHENING OF INDIAN FORECASTING SYSTEM 25th April, 2013

LSQ *422

SHRI MADHU GOUD YASKHI SHRIPRADEEP KUMAR MAJHI

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) whether any Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed by the Earth System Science Organization of the Ministry with the Natural Environment Research Council of the United Kingdom in the recent past;

(b) if so, the details thereof along with the terms and conditions of the said MoU;

(c) the manner in which the said agreement would help us to improve our forecasting capability of various weather and climate related phenomena and natural hazards; and

(d) the details of the status of the various ongoing research projects of these organisations and the benefit accrued or likely to accrue to the country as a result thereof?

MINISTER FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) to (d): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

STATEMENT LAID ON THE TABLE OF THE LOK SABHA IN REPLY (a) to (d) TO STARRED QUESTION NO. 422 REGARDING “STRENGTHENING OF INDIAN FORECASTING SYSTEM” TO BE ANSWERED ON THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 2013

(a) Yes Madam.

(b) A MoU was signed on 1st March 2013 to establish an appropriate research cooperation umbrella between the UK and Indian earth system science, climate and environmental research communities. The endeavour of the MoU will be to promote collaboration in the area of Meteorology, Oceanography, Climate variability and change, hydrology, cryosphere, natural hazards and biodiversity by promoting information sharing and identification of new opportunities of collaboration through networking, exchange of scientific and technical capacities, and co-funding of research projects through joint calls.

(c) It is envisaged that the MoU provides a suitable joint research and development mechanism to address some of the significant scientific challenges in the Asian region relating to improved understanding of the regional scale monsoon; the possible influence of weather and climate circulation patterns of northern Europe; and the important (and poorly understood) interactions between climate, glaciers, groundwater and whole sustainability of water resources.

(d) Under the theme of Changing Water Cycle, 5 joint research proposals have so far been undertaken. A joint meeting to review the progress of the projects was conducted on 7-8 February 2013 in Delhi in which 10 scientists from UK have participated along with 15 scientists of India. The expenditure to be incurred by both the parties is generally based on the principle of parity. The share of current committed funding for the five projects is Rs 20 crores (£ 2.7 million) (NERC-UK Component) and Rs 12.5 crore (MoES-Indian component). The formulation of new joint call for inviting collaborative research proposals under monsoon research theme is finalized for which NERC authorised a £ 3 million investment for supporting identified UK research groups to work with Indian groups.

CONVERSION OF SEA WATER INTO DRINKING WATER 25th April, 2013

LSQ *439

SHRI VILAS BABURAO MUTTEMWAR SHRI JAGDISH SHARMA

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) whether any success has been achieved in converting sea water into safe drinking water;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether the Government has formulated any scheme at the national level for converting sea water into safe drinking water;

(d) if so, the details thereof including locations of such projects, State-wise; and,

(e) the details of the cost of purification of water in this regard?

MINISTER OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTER OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) to (e): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

STATEMENT LAID ON THE TABLE OF THE LOK SABHA IN REPLY (a) to (e) TO STARRED QUESTION NO. 439 REGARDING “CONVERSION OF SEA WATER INTO DRINKING WATER” TO BE ANSWERED ON THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 2013.

(a) Yes, Madam.

(b) Earth System Science Organisation (ESSO) - National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) has indigenously designed developed and demonstrated Low Temperature Thermal Desalination (LTTD) technology for conversion of sea water into potable water. The LTTD is a process under which the warm surface sea water is flash evaporated at low pressure and the vapour is condensed with cold deep sea water. This technology is efficient and found to be suitable for island territories of India, especially Lakshadweep Islands. The same process is used to generate potable drinking water utilizing the thermal wastewater (having temperatures significantly more than room temperature), from thermal power plants. Till date, 4 LTTD plants have been successfully commissioned in the country, one each at Kavaratti (2005), Minicoy (2011), Agatti (2011), Lakshadweep and at North Chennai Thermal Power Station (NCTPS), Chennai (2008). The capacity of each of these LTTD plants is 1 lakh liter of potable water per day.

(c) Yes, Madam.

(d) ESSO proposes to set up a LTTD plant with a capacity of generating 2 million litres of potable water per day (2 MLD) at Tuticorin Thermal Power Station, Tamil Nadu and six LTTD plants funded by the Lakshadweep Administration, one each in the islands of Lakshadweep viz., Amini, Chetlet, Kadamath, Kalpeni, Kiltan and Andrott with a capacity of generating one lakh litre of potable water per day.

(e) The cost per liter of desalination would depend on the technology used and cost of electricity which varies from place to place. According to the cost estimates made recently by an independent agency for LTTD technology, the operational cost per litre of desalinated potable water is about 19 paise for island based plants.

UPGRADATION OF INFRASTRUCTURE OF IMD 25th April, 2013

LSQ 4836

SHRI KAPIL MUNI KARWARIYA

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) whether the Government has formulated any scheme for improving the functioning of scientists working in the field of meteorological research and forecasting;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether the existing infrastructure is inadequate for the said purpose; and

(d) if so, the steps proposed to be taken by the Government for upgradation of infrastructure of India Meteorological Department (IMD)?

MINISTER FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) No exclusive scheme has been launched Madam. However, the Flexible Complementing Scheme (FCS) of Career Progression has been implemented for the scientific services including those engaged in weather research and forecasting.

FCS implementation was based on the Third Central Pay Commission Recommendations of 1973 that allows award of promotion from one grade to another after a prescribed period of service for scientists of proven merit and ability irrespective of the availability of any vacancy. The FCS provisions have been amended from time to time by the Government following the recommendations of the subsequent pay commissions. Recently, Government has modified FCS for Scientists based on the recommendations of the 6th Central Pay Commission in September, 2010.

(b) Does not arise.

(c & d) No Madam. However, Government feels that the upgradation of the observing system, high performance computing, communication, forecast/warning systems, product dissemination systems etc. should become a continuous process by which state-of-the-art science and technology tools can be made accessible to the scientists engaged in weather research and forecasting towards enhancing the service quality.

During the XI Plan, phase-I of the modernization programme of the Earth System Science Organization (ESSO)- IMD is implemented by the Government with an allocated grant of Rs. 920crores.

FREQUENCY OF EARTHQUAKES 2nd May, 2013

LSQ 5784

SHRI N CHELUVARAYA SWAMY SWAMYGOWDA SHRI ARJUN RAM MEGHWAL

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) whether new technological skills and programmes have been adopted by the Government for seismology and earthquake prediction related research;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether the frequency of the tremors of earthquakes in the country has increased;

(d) if so, the parts of the country where tremors of earthquake were felt during the last one year and their intensity along with complete details thereof;

(e) whether the Government proposes to set up a dedicated Seismology Research Lab;

(f) if so, the details of the objectives of said laboratory;

(g) whether the Government has made any efforts to identify the earthquake prone areas and to reassess the seismic zones; and

(h) if so, the details thereof?

MINISTER FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) Yes Madam.

(b) Preparatory studies have been initiated to carry out scientific investigations and select the suitable site for deep borehole drilling in the Koyna-Warna region. The investigations include, Seismological, Geophysical (seismic, gravity, magnetic), LIDAR, geomorphology and structural geological studies, apart from a few shallow (~ 1 km) exploratory boreholes.

(c) No apparent increase in the frequency of the tremors of earthquake in the country has been noticed.

(d) Does not arise.

(e) Yes Madam.

(f) As a part of the Koyna Deep Borehole Programme it is envisaged to set up a Research Laboratory at Karad. The Maharashtra Government has provided 125 acres of land in Hazarmachi area of Karad Taluka and Foundation Stone has already been laid by Minister of Earth Science on 24th May 2012 in presence of Hon’ble Chief Minister, Maharashtra and Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences.

Further, the Earth System Science Organization (ESSO) of the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) is in the process of re-structuring the operational seismology and earthquake research in the country under the umbrella of a dedicated Center of excellence in Seismology. The broad objectives of the Center are as follows: i) Provide earthquake (M:3.0 and above) related information to all user agencies in shortest possible time. ii) Provide earthquake hazard and risk related products of specific region, required by various agencies for institutionalizing various preventive measures for design and construction of earthquake resistant structures, land use planning and for enacting building bye-laws towards minimizing damage to property and loss of lives due to earthquakes. iii) Carry out research in pure and applied seismology and earthquake precursory phenomena, earthquake processes and modeling.

(g) Yes Madam.

(h) Earthquake prone areas of the county have been identified on the basis of scientific inputs relating to seismicity, earthquakes occurred in the past and tectonic setup of the region. Based on these inputs, Bureau of Indian Standards [IS 1893 (Part I):2002], has grouped the country into four seismic zones viz. Zone-II, -III, -IV and –V. Of these, Zone V is seismically the most active region, while zone II is the least. Broadly, Zone - V comprises entire northeastern India, parts of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Rann of Kutch in Gujarat, part of North Bihar and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Zone - IV covers remaining parts of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, Sikkim, Northern Parts of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal, parts of Gujarat and small portions of Maharashtra near the west coast and Rajasthan. Zone – III comprises Kerala, Goa, Lakshadweep islands, remaining parts of Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and West Bengal, Parts of Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu and Karnataka. Zone - II covers remaining parts of country.

PREDICTION OF TORRENTIAL RAIN 2nd May, 2013

LSQ 5786

SHRI KULDEEP BISHNOI

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) whether Indian Meteorological Department failed to predict torrential rains in coastal Andhra Pradesh in November, 2012 due to Nilam Cyclone resulting in vast devastation in the region;

(b) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor; and

(c) the corrective steps taken by the Government to avoid such situation in future?

MINISTER FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) No Madam. IMD predicted the heavy rainfall over Andhra Pradesh 48h in advance and informed the designated Disaster Management Authorities of Government of Andhra Pradesh.

(b) Does not arise.

(c) Does not arise.

INSTALLATION OF WEATHER RADARS 2nd May, 2013

LSQ 5813

SHRI ADHI SANKAR

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) whether the four Doppler radars procured in 2010 to be installed in coastal regions for accurate weather data are still lying idle as they have not received security clearance from the Ministry of Defence;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether the Ministry of Defence had raised objections to these radars being placed in closer to defence land that it may have security implications and data or image could be transmitted to unauthorized entities in other countries;

(d) if so, the details thereof;

(e) whether any independent agencies have been engaged to evaluate the safety of these radars; and

(f) if so, the details thereof?

MINISTER FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) 3 of the 4 Doppler Weather Radars (DWR)s procured during 2009-2010 are only currently lying uninstalled as 4th DWR is currently under commissioning at Bhopal.

(b) 4-DWRs originally meant for Goa, Karaikal, Paradip and Mumbai could not be installed due to objection of the Ministry of Defence (MoD). Keeping the operational exigency and criticality of having DWR at Mumbai on priority then, commissioning of indigenous DWR that was meant for Kochi, had been taken up. Three Radars meant for Goa, Karaikal and Paradip are lying at respective locations in uninstalled condition.

(c) Yes madam.

(d) MoD had advised the India Meteorological Department (IMD), on 23rd April 2010, not to proceed with the installation of Weather radars at coastal area and inside any defence locations considering the security implications arising out of DWRs procured from China through global tendering process.

(e) Yes Madam.

(f) Based on the clearance given by MoD on 15th April 2013 with the fulfilment of certain pre- conditions for proceeding with the installation of DWRs at civilian locations of Goa, Paradip and Karaikal, security audit will have to be carried out by independent agencies suggested by MoD at the respective sites.

COASTAL OCEAN MONITORING AND PREDICTION SYSTEM 8th August, 2013

LSQ *73

SHRI S. ALAGIRI SHRI MANSUKHBHAI D. VASAVA

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) the aims and objectives of implementing the Coastal Ocean Monitoring and Prediction System (COMAPS);

(b) the details of the findings and the data collected by COMAPS during each of the last three years and the current year, location-wise;

(c) the details and the action taken by the Government on the findings;

(d) whether the system has achieved the desired results; and

(e) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

MINISTER OF THE STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) to (e) A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

STATEMENT LAID ON THE TABLE OF THE LOK SABHA IN REPLY (a) to (e) TO STARRED QUESTION NO. 73 REGARDING “COASTAL OCEAN MONITORING AND PREDICTION SYSTEM” TO BE ANSWERED ON THURSDAY, AUGUST 08, 2013

(a) The aims and objective of the Coastal Ocean Monitoring and Prediction System (COMAPS) program are (i) to monitor water quality parameters periodically in selected locations in the coastal waters of India with a view to understand the changes in pollution levels (ii) to develop possible prediction of pollutions levels in these selected locations to assess the state of marine environment.

(b) During the last three years and current year, the data up to 25 parameters such as dissolved oxygen (DO), nutrients, pH, Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), plankton, benthos and pathogenic bacteria, etc., are being monitored covering different seasons at 20 locations as detailed below:

S.No Name of location 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14

1. Vadinar Apr Apr Jan, Apr, Aug

2. Veraval Jan, Mar, Sep Jan, Mar, Sep Jan, Mar, Sep Jan, Mar

3. Hazira Apr, Sep Jan, May, Aug, Apr, Oct Feb Dec 4. Thane (Mumbai) Jan, May, Sep Jan, May, Sep Jan, Mar, Sep Jan, Mar

5. Worli Jan, May, Sep Jan, Mar, Sep Jan, Mar

6. Ratnagiri Feb Oct Jan, Mar, Oct Jan, Mar

7. Malvan Oct Jan, Mar, Oct Jan, Mar

8. Mandovi Jan Mar, Oct Mar, Dec Mar

9. Mangalore Mar, Sep, Feb, Mar, Mar, May, Sep, Nov Feb, May Oct, Dec Apr, Dec

10. Kochi Mar, Sep, Feb, Mar, Mar, May, Sep, Nov Mar Oct, Dec May, Nov

11. Kavaratti Nov May, Dec Apr, Sep Jan, May

12. Sandheads Mar, Jul, Dec Apr, Jul, Oct Mar, Jul, Dec Mar

13. Hooghly Apr, Jul, Oct Jul

14. Paradip Apr, Jul, Dec Apr, Jul, Oct Mar, Jul, Dec Mar

15. Visakhapatnam Jun, Oct, Dec Mar, Jul, Oct Jan, Jul, Dec

16. Kakinada May, Oct, Dec Mar, Jul, Oct Jan, Jul, Dec

17. Ennore (Chennai) Jan, Jun , Mar, Jun, Mar, Jun, Sep, Dec Mar Sep, Dec Sep, Dec

18. Pondicherry Jan, May, Mar, Jun, Mar, Jun, Sep, Dec Mar Sep, Dec Sep, Dec

19. Tuticorin Mar, May, Feb, May, Mar, May, Sep, Dec Feb Aug, Nov Aug, Dec

20. Port Blair Mar, May, Feb, May, Jun, Nov Feb Sep, Dec Aug, Nov

Seawater quality data collected over pariod has indicated areas of low, moderate and intense pollution. The data further indicates that the concentration of the nutrients and population of pathogenic bacteria are confined to 0 – 1 km at these locations except in Mumbai. The details of findings at each of the locations during the last three years are available at Annexure-1.

(c) These details of the findings are being provided to the State Pollution Control Boards, who make use of the information to take remedial measures. Besides, the data are also hosted on the website of Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad for wider utility.

(d) Yes, Madam.

(e). Based on the data collected, the status of coastal waters has been assessed. The progress of project is being evaluated periodically by an Expert Committee and once in a year by the Steering Committee. Considering the performance of this project and its utility to various sectors in the coastal states, the committee made recommendations for continuation of the project.

Annexure-1:

The Details salient findings of this monitoring exercise carried at each of location during the last three years?

# At Vadinar, water quality is observed to be good with normal values of DO and nutrients.

# At Veraval, water quality of Veraval Harbour continued to be considerably degraded with low pH, low DO (which often attains zero concentration), high nutrients and BOD. However, the offshore environment sustains good water quality.

# At Hazira, though the Tapi Estuary shows build up of nutrients and low DO in premonsoon, normal conditions were observed during monsoon, the offshore waters of Hazira are of normal water quality.

# Thane (Mumbai): Though levels of nutrients were observed to be high at Thane creek with low DO, coastal water quality off Mumbai showed normal DO and moderate levels of nutrients.

# Worli outfall (Mumbai): All the water quality parameters were in normal range and comparable with coastal area except minor depletion in DO suggesting no significant impact of release. The water quality beyond 1 km of the outfall was good with high DO and normal nutrients.

# Ratnagiri and Malvan: The coastal waters off Ratnagiri and Malvan are observed to be good with normal values of DO and nutrients.

# Mandovi: Coastal water quality of Mandovi is good with normal levels of DO and nutrients. Moderate levels of pathogenic bacteria were observed occasionally.

# Mangalore and Kochi: Though nutrient levels were in normal range, occasional low DO and high incidence pathogenic bacteria were observed.

# Kavaratti: Nutrients were in normal range. However, moderate levels of pathogenic bacteria were observed.

# Tuticorin, Pondicherry, Ennore (Chennai): Levels of DO, BOD and nutrients were within normal range. However, significantly high levels of pathogenic bacteria were observed.

# Kakinada, Visakhapatnam: Levels of DO, nutrients were within normal range off Visakhapatnam and Kakinada indicating fairly good water quality.

# Paradip: Levels of DO, nutrients were within normal range. However, moderate levels of pathogenic bacteria were observed.

# Port Blair: Coastal water quality at Port Blair is observed to be good with normal levels of DO and nutrients. However, high levels of pathogenic bacteria were observed at Junglighat bay.

PREDICTION OF MONSOON 8th August, 2013

LSQ *80

SHRI JOSE K. MANI

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) whether the early onset of the south-west monsoon all over the country this year is indicative of adequate rainfall during the four-month monsoon season;

(b) if so, the details thereof; and

(c) the details of the rain predictions made by meteorologists for the current monsoon season in the country, month- wise?

MINISTER OF THE STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) to (c) A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

STATEMENT LAID ON THE TABLE OF THE LOK SABHA IN REPLY (a) to (c) TO STARRED QUESTION NO.80 REGARDING “PREDICTION OF MONSOON” TO BE ANSWERED ON THURSDAY, AUGUST 08, 2013

(a) No Madam.

(b) Does not arise.

(c) India Meteorological Department (IMD) issues operational long range forecasts for the southwest monsoon Season (June to September) rainfall over the country as a whole in two stages – during April and its update June, every year. Summary of IMD’s long range forecasts for the southwest monsoon - 2013 (June to September) issued is presented below.

Region Period Date of Issue Forecast(% of long period average)

All India June to September 26th April 98 ± 5

All India June to September 14th June 98 ± 4

Northwest India June to September 94 ± 8

Central India June to September 98 ± 8

Northeast India June to September 98 ± 8

South Peninsula June to September 103 ± 8

All India July 101 ± 9

All India August 96 ± 9

All India August to September 1st August 96 ±8

AVERAGE RAINFALL DURING MONSOON 8th August, 2013

LSQ 693

SHRI NALIN KUMAR KATEEL

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) whether the Government is aware that many States have received average rainfall during this monsoon; and

(b) if so, the details thereof for the current year monsoon till now, State-wise?

MINISTER OF THE STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) Yes Madam.

(b) During the current year monsoon, 13 states have so far received average/normal range (within-19% to +19% of long period average-LPA) of rainfall(mm) as per details given below:

S.No. State Actual Rainfall Normal Departure Received (1 June Rainfall from LPA -31 July) (LPA)

1 Sikkim 806.7 987.9 -18%

2 West Bengal 640.0 714.5 -10%

3 Chandigarh (UT) 434.2 402.4 +08%

4 Delhi 300.2 280.5 +07%

5 Punjab 236.9 230.4 +03%

6 Himachal Pradesh 462.6 400.3 +15%

7 Jammu & Kashmir 283.3 256.5 +10%

8 Odisha 657.7 551.1 +19%

9 Diu(UT) 499.0 449.6 +11%

10 Chattisgarh 665.5 559.0 +19%

11 Tamilnadu 97.3 114.1 -15%

12 Puducherry(UT) 124.6 124.0 0%

13 Lakshadweep (UT) 722.7 617.9 +17%

WEATHER FORECASTING 8th August, 2013

LSQ 761

SHRI SAMEER BHUJBAL

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) whether any direction was issued by the Government to formulate a plan to use satellite to accurately predict calamities like landslides and heavy rainfall;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether the Government has any plan to link National Disaster Management Authority with National Remote Sensing Centre for providing meteorological information obtained through satellite from time to time;

(d) if so, the details thereof; and

(e) if not, the reasons therefor?

MINISTER OF THE STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) No Madam.

(b) Does not arise.

(c) No Madam. However, National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) is connected to Ministry of Home Affairs, New Delhi and National Disaster Management Authority by a Virtual Private Network (VPN) for transferring images and information of the areas affected by a disaster.

(d) Does not arise.

(e) NRSC does not receive any meteorological information through satellite. The data from meteorological satellites are directly received by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) and all possible meteorological data is generated in real time. The data available from other polar satellites such as Oceansat-2 that generates marine surface meteorological information apart from ocean state observations is made available from NRSC’s website in near real time.

INSTALLATION OF DOPPLER RADARS 8th August, 2013

LSQ 765

SHRI TARACHAND BHAGORA

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) whether in June, 2008, the Government sanctioned two Doppler radars which could accurately gauge the size of clouds and provide immediate forecasts;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether the Government has allocated the land for installations of the said Doppler radars;

(d) if so, the details and the location thereof and if not, the reasons therefor; and

(e) the action taken by the Government in this regard?

MINISTER OF THE STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) No Madam.

(b) (e) Does not arise.

PREDICTION OF WEATHER 8th August, 2013

LSQ 776

SHRI DHANANJAY SINGH SHRI RAOSAHEB PATIL DANVE SHRI D.B. CHANDRE GOWDA SHRI ASADUDDIN OWAISI PROF. SAUGATA RAY SHRI P. VENUGOPAL DR. M.THAMBIDURAI SHRI S. R. JEYADURAL

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) weather the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has repeatedly failed to predict weather accurately in the country leading to natural disaster in Uttarakhand;

(b) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor;

(c) whether in absence of any system to disseminate the alert resulted in large scale destruction and loss of lives in Uttarakhand;

(d) if so, the details thereof along with the steps taken to install Doppler radars in cloudburst prone areas; and

(e) the other steps taken/being taken by the Government to adopt latest technology in regard to weather forecast and dissemination of information to tourist and local people?

MINISTER OF THE STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) No Madam.

(b) Does not arise.

(c) (d) No Madam. Fully organised protocol exists between the IMD and the various designated disaster management authorities at centre and state levels for dissemination of weather forecast warning alerts and such existing dissemination protocol is always duly complied with by IMD.

Earth System Science Organization (ESSO)-IMD, in coordination with State Governments, is already generating forecasts for major pilgrimages such as Amarnath Yatra, Manasasarovar Yatra, Chardham Yatra, Hemkund Sahib, Kumbhmela etc. and also various mountaineering expeditions launched by Armed Forces for Mount Everest and several other Himalayan mountain ranges. However, notwithstanding with the recent heavy rainfall events and floods over Uttarakhand, continuous efforts are on to generate value added forecast products at different spatial scales (State, District, City etc.) and temporal scales (from few hours to 5 days) for all the regions of the country. The tourist city forecasts and their updates in particular are made available through designated state government level functionaries, electronic & print media and for general public on IMD’s national as well as regional office websites.

(e) Based on scientific assessment of the needs for further augmentation of observing system network, comprising Doppler Weather Radars, rain radars, Automatic Weather Stations (AWSs), Automatic Rain Gauges (ARGs), Snow Gauges etc. expansion has been formulated. In addition, augmenting high performance computing facilities, communication, forecast/warning systems, product dissemination systems etc. are part of a continuous process by which state-of-the- art science and technology tools can be made accessible to the scientists engaged in weather research and forecasting for enhancing the service quality.

CONVERSION OF OCEAN THERMAL ENERGY 8th August, 2013

LSQ 872

SMT JYOTI DHURVE SHRI KACHHADIA NARANBHAI

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) the details of the progress made in the research to convert Ocean Thermal Energy for the purpose of generating electricity; and

(b) the time by which electricity generation is likely to be started?

MINISTER OF THE STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) Earth System Science Organisation (ESSO) through its technical arm, National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) has been conducting laboratory level experiments for generation of electrical energy by Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC), utilizing difference in temperature between ocean surface and ocean depth around 800- 1000m. No operational plant based on the principle of OTEC exists anywhere in the World.

(b) Does not arise.

CLIMATE CHANGE AT NORTH POLE 22nd August, 2013

LSQ 2097

SHRI JAI PRAKASH AGARWAL

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) whether the Government proposes to carry out research in regard to climate change at the North Pole;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) the estimated expenditure on such research;

(d) whether an agreement has been signed with any country in this regard; and

(e) if so, the details thereof?

MINISTER OF THE STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) Yes Madam.

(b) Ministry of Earth Sciences has a long-term program of monitoring one of the major fjords at Ny-Ålesund (1200km to the south of the North Pole) on the Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic region to understand how it may

respond to changing climate. Main objective of the project is to establish a long-term comprehensive physical, chemical, biological and atmospheric measurement programme to study:

(1) The variability in the Arctic/Atlantic climate signal.

(2) The effect of interaction between the warm Atlantic water and the cold glacial-melt fresh water on the biological productivity and phytoplankton species composition and diversity within the fjord.

(3) The winter convection and its role in the biogeochemical cycling.

(4) The trigger mechanism of spring bloom and its temporal variability and biomass production.

(5) The production and export of organic carbon in the fjord.

(c) Expenditure of Rs.21Crore is estimated to be incurred for the programme during current Five Year Plan.

(d) Yes Madam.

(e) The study will be continued under the MOU between National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR) and the Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI).

CLOUD AEROSOL INTERACTION AND PRECIPITATION ENHANCEMENT EXPERIMENT 22nd August, 2013

LSQ 2271

SHRI AJAY KUMAR

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) the areas covered under the Cloud Aerosol Interaction and Precipitation Enhancement Experiment (CAIPEX) programme;

(b) whether the second phase of CAIPEX has been concluded;

(c) if so, the findings of the same;

(d) whether the Government is seeking to extend the programme to other regions, apart from those earmarked in the second phase of implementation;

(e) if so, the details thereof; and

(f) the targets set and achieved during the last three years and the current year under the said programme?

MINISTER OF THE STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) Phase I of the CAIPEX consisted of cloud aerosol observations using instrumented aircraft over different parts of the country during the period 24 May – 30 September 2009 from the air- bases of Pathankot, Barelli, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Pune, and Bangalore. The aircraft observations covered almost all the Indian region and some coastal Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal sea region up to 20 km from the coast.

(b) Yes Madam.

(c) The aircraft flights were conducted from Hyderabad base for the randomized cloud seeding experiment. C-Band Doppler Weather Radar (DWR) was operated from Sholapur in the monsoon season 2010 and from Mahabubnagar in the monsoon season 2011. The area encompassed by the 200 km radius from the DWR location has been the target area for the seeding operations. The aircraft flights were organized for research and seeding purposes using two aircrafts. On the whole, 28 randomized seeding experiments were carried out both by flares and fine grained salt powder following WMO Weather Modification Expert Committee recommendations.

(d) Yes Madam. For getting statistically significant results, a large number of cases (at least 200) are required to be organized.

(e) CAIPEX will be carried out over Ganges valley during monsoon- 2014, which specific focus on the monsoon clouds formation and their propagation over land with augmented ground based observations so as to investigate the effect of aerosol-clouds and monsoon. The randomized seeding program will be continued for some more years from Hyderabad till statistically significant results from seeding experiments are achieved.

(f) Details of the targets and achievements of CAIPEX for the last 3-years and the current year include

Year Targets Achievements

2009 Cloud aerosol observations 220 hours of flying was organized over different parts of with instrumented aircraft during country using instrumented the period 24 May - 30 September aircraft 2009

2010 Cloud aerosol observations About 200 hours of flying was over seeding area/tropical organized with 2-instrumented convergence zone area of aircrafts (research air-craft north India and randomized was flown for 120hours and the cloud seeding operationsseeder aircraft for 80hours) during along with DWR operating September - October 2010. from Solapur (200 km radius from the Radar location has been the target area for the seeding operations)

2011 # Cloud aerosol observations An instrumented research and a over seeding area/tropical seeder aircraft carried out convergence zone area of during September-November 2011. north India and randomized Both the aircrafts were flying cloud seeding operations together for 250hours. A fully along with DWR operating randomized cloud seeding from Mehabubnagar (200 km experiments were conducted using radius from the Radar location both hygro-scopic flares and has been the target area for the salt powder as seeding seeding operations)·agents. C-band DWR from Mehbubnagar and S-band DWR of IMD, Hyderabad were used during the campaign. # Augmented full-fledged Integrated Ground Observational Campaign (IGOC) at the central location Mahabubnagar with surface instruments for measuring boundary-layer parameters, aerosols, Cloud Concentration Nuclei, trace gases,

and atmospheric thermodynamics were deployed at the IGOC site. TIFR Balloon facility, Hyderabad Space Physics Laboratory (SPL), Trivendrum and University of Pune (UoP) partici-pated in the IGOC so as to understand the role of surface and boundary layer processes and their interactions with cloud

2012-2013 Analysis of the phase-I and Phase-II The aircraft measured cloud CAIPEX data to understand the rainfall microphysical and aerosol data processes and ground based IGOC data has been analyzed to understand the role of aerosols in the rainfall process. The studies so far yielded about 20 research publications in various reviewed national and international journals of repute.

WEATHER FORECASTING SYSTEM 29th August, 2013

LSQ *272

SHRI BAIJAYANT PANDA

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) whether Doppler Weather Radars have been installed by India Meteorological Department (IMD) to improve the weather forecasting system;

(b) if so, the details thereof indicating the locations where the same have been installed;

(c) whether the Ministry of Home Affairs has raised security concerns with some of the locations;

(d) if so, the details thereof; and

(e) whether the IMD has started making five day weather forecasts with the help of such radars and if so, the details thereof?

MINISTER OF THE STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) to (e) A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

STATEMENT LAID ON THE TABLE OF THE LOK SABHA IN REPLY (a) to (e) TO STARRED QUESTION NO. 272 REGARDING “WEATHER FORECASTING SYSTEM” TO BE ANSWERED ON THURSDAY, AUGUST 29, 2013

(a) Yes Madam. Doppler Weather Radar (DWR) network is primarily employed to improve the severe weather surveillance capability and for operating now-casting (very short range up to 6h in advance) service (operated for about 117 locations across India). Further, data generated from all observing systems viz. surface and upper air observations, satellite observations, aircraft observations, DWRs etc. are used by various forecast models to generate most representative initial state 3-D structure of the atmosphere and high resolution(9km grid scale) forecasts over India.

(b) As on today, 2 Nos. of polarimetric DWR systems at Delhi-Lodi Road and Jaipur respectively are functional along with 15 Nos. non-polarimetric DWR systems, respectively at Chennai, Sriharikota, Machilipatnam, Visakhapatnam, Kolkata, Mumbai, Bhuj, Hyderabad, Nagpur, Patiala, Delhi Palam, Lucknow, Patna, Mohanbari, Agartala, in other parts of the country. Eighteenth (18th) DWR is under commissioning currently at Bhopal.

(c) (d) No Madam. 4-DWRs originally meant for Goa, Karaikal, Paradip and Mumbai could not be installed due to objection of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in April 2010. Keeping the operational exigency and criticality of having DWR at Mumbai on priority then, commissioning of indigenous DWR that was meant for Kochi, had been taken up. Three Radars meant for Goa, Karaikal and Paradip are lying at respective locations in uninstalled condition.

Based on the clearance given now by the MoD on 15th April 2013 with the fulfillment of certain pre-conditions for proceeding with the installation of DWRs at civilian locations of Goa, Paradip and Karaikal, security audit will have to be carried out by independent agencies suggested by MoD at the respective sites.

(e) No Madam. However, as things stand today, DWR data is assimilated along with all available other observations as mentioned at (a) above, in to regional (27Km) and high-resolution meso- scale (9km) forecast models that generate 3-days forecasts of severe weather in advance and now-cast application tools that generate now-casts up to 6h in advance.

FOREWARNING OF CLOUDBURST 29th August, 2013

LSQ 2997

SHRI RAKESH SINGH

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) whether forewarning of cloudburst and severe flood in Hindu pilgrimage centre Kedarnath was given to the State Government of Uttarakhand;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether this warning had been ignored by the State Government;and

(d) if so, the details thereof?

MINISTER OF THE STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) (b) Earth System Science Organization – India Meteorological Department (ESSO - IMD) has only issued severe weather warnings with isolated heavy to very heavy rains (12 - 24 cm) for the entire Uttarakhand region, starting from June 15, 2013 for three days including the advice to postpone the Char Dham Yatra (Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri) accordingly to designated state level authorities.

(c) No Madam. Based on the inputs received from ESSO - IMDs State Meteorological Centre-Dehradun, the State Government issued advisories to all the concerned districts. Announcements were made by Police personnel stationed at Kedarnath, Rambada and Gaurikund alerting general public. The district administration stopped the further movement of pilgrims from Rishikesh to higher reaches.

(d) Does not arise.

REAL TIME WEATHER FORECAST 29th August 2013

LSQ 3117

Shri SAMEER BHUJBAL

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) whether the Government has formulated any scheme to provide real time weather information with the help of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) for the benefit of pilgrims going to Chardham, Amarnath, Vaishno Devi, Mansarovar, Kumbh Mela in the wake of the tragedy in Uttarakhand;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) the places and the time period for which this weather information, if likely, to be made available; and

(d) the policy formulated/proposed to be formulated by the IMD to provide weather information for the Kumbh fair which is scheduled to be held in 2015?

MINISTER OF THE STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) (c) Earth System Science Organization (ESSO)-IMD, in coordination with State Governments, is already generating forecasts for major pilgrimages such as Amarnath Yatra, Manasasarovar Yatra, Chardham Yatra, Hemkund Sahib, Kumbhmela, etc. and also various mountaineering expeditions launched by Armed Forces for Mount Everest and several other Himalayan mountain ranges for the last few years. However, notwithstanding with the recent heavy rainfall events and floods over Uttarakhand, continuous efforts are on to generate value added forecast products at different spatial scales (State, District, City etc.) and temporal scales (from few hours to 5 days) for all the regions of the country. The tourist city forecasts and their updates in particular are made available through designated state government level functionaries, electronic & print media and for general public on ESSO - IMD’s national as well as regional office websites.

(d) Starting from 9th January, 2013, ESSO - IMD had successfully rendered weather forecast service valid for next 7-days on daily basis in connection with Maha Kumbh Mela-2013 held at (Sangam) during January 14, 2013 – March 10, 2013. A new android application called “Indian -Weather” for smart phones and TABS, that is freely downloadable through google play available on the home screen of android based smart phones and tabs, is launched from 15th January 2013. With this service, ESSO-IMD’s forecasts for major cities of the country for next 4 days along with updated current weather observations were made available to the millions of mobile users across the country in the initial phase.

Government of India has operationalised its location specific nowcasting weather service across the country including the web based inputs. Under this service activity, that covers 117 urban centres currently on experimental basis, nowcast of severe weather (Thunderstorms; heavy rainfall from lows/depressions over the land) in 3-6h range is issued. Origin, development/ movement of severe weather phenomena are regularly monitored through all available observing systems (Automatic Weather Stations-AWSs; Automatic Rain Gauges-ARGs; Doppler Weather Radars- DWRs; Automatic Weather Observing Systems-AWOS; satellite derived wind vectors, temperature, moisture fields etc.) are assimilated to generate predictions (prepared both in text as well as in graphical form) on 3h time range for next 72-hours. Web GIS rendering of the nowcast products is implemented for enhanced spatial representation of the severe weather intensities associated with warnings.

Apart from the above, ESSO - IMD makes use of all available systems to render 7-day special outlook (updated daily) and 3h-interval forecasts for next 3-days (updated daily) valid for Nasik in association with the Kumbh-2015 starting from 14th July, 2015.

PROGRESS MADE IN EARTH SCIENCES 29th August, 2013

LSQ 3197

SHRI JAI PRAKASH AGARWAL

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) the progress made in the field of earth sciences till date during the last three years;and current year;

(b) whether the Government is satisfied with its achievements;

(c) if not, the reasons therefor; and

(d) the steps taken by the Government in this regard?

MINISTER OF THE STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) The progress made during the last 3 years and the current year has been considerably significant under various projects of the ministry. Some of the major accomplishments are described below:

1. Observation Systems: Recognizing the importance of real-time data on meteorological and oceanographic data for various operational weather and other advisory services, the Ministry has substantially augmented the observations networks during the last 3 years. As a part of modernization meteorological Services, Atmospheric Observing Systems has been strengthened through installation of 1609 state-of-the-art systems in various parts of the country for real-time monitoring meteorological parameters which include 1055 Automatic Rain gauges and 554 Automatic weather stations in various parts of India. Ten Doppler Weather Radars have been installed in various cities viz., Delhi airport, New Delhi, Nagpur, Jaipur, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Patna, Patiala, Agartala, Mohanbari, Bhuj and Mumbai which has contributed for now casting. The augmentation of Ocean Observation Networks in the seas around India includes deployment of 16 moored buoys including 10 Tsunami buoys, 194 Argo Floats, 74 drifters, 16 wave rider buoys etc., for acquisition of real-time data from the seas around India.

2. Services: Under the Meteorological Services, a district-level agro-meteorological advisory service, providing a 5- day weather forecast for farmers, in 585 districts, has been made operational. About 3,500,000 farmers have subscribed for the information through mobile for planning their agricultural activities. A location-specific weather and air quality forecast 24 hours in advance was provided successfully for the Commonwealth Games 2010 in National Capital Region, Delhi. Under the Ocean Science and Information Services, a unique system of Fisheries Advisories based on identification of potential fishing zones (PFZ) using remote sensing technology has been made operational along with a new Tuna fishery advisory to deep sea fishing industry. A Coral Bleaching Alert System (CABS) has been set up for providing bimonthly status on 5 major coral environments of India viz., Andaman Nicobar, Lakshadweep, Gulf of Mannar, Gulf of Kutchchh. Under Disaster Mitigation Support, a state-of-the-art Tsunami Warning System was set up, in September 2007, which has been recognized as a Regional Tsunami warning centre for the Indian Ocean countries which has been recognized as a Regional Tsunami Service Provider (RTSP) for the Indian Ocean Region and started operation to the Indian Ocean Rim countries. Under the framework of Regional Integrated Multi-hazard Early warning System (RIMES), a data-sharing arrangement has been established with the nine countries to provide 24 hour accumulated rainfall forecast for 3 days. The countries include Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. The departments of irrigation, agriculture, and other primary users of weather information also have become major beneficiaries. The maps of Coastal Vulnerability Index (CVI) for the entire country were prepared.

3. Technology Development: Under the Ocean Technology & Resources, two more LTTD plants were commissioned in the islands of Lakshadweep one each at Minicoy and Agatti during March 2011 and August 2011, respectively. A full fledged hatchery unit for the breeding and rearing of ornamental fishes was established at Agatti,

Lakshadweep islands. The remotely operable submersible (ROSUB) was tested at 5300 m in the Indian Ocean which is land mark achievement for exploitation of resources. A Remotely Operable Subsea In-situ Soil Tester (ROSIS) has been developed and was tested at a water depth of 5462 m in the Central Indian Ocean Basin (CIOB).

4. Scientific Research: Numerical weather prediction capability has been significantly improved from 35 km to 18 km resolution. Tropical Cyclone Tracker, which tracks and generates the cyclone positions in the forecasts (& observations), has been implemented in the Global Ensemble Forecast System (GEFS) and the T574L64. Under the Polar Science & cryosphere, the First Scientific expedition was successfully undertaken to the South Pole in November 2010. In 2010, the fish potential in the Indian EEZ was estimated using both satellite and in-situ data, which was found to be 4.32 MSY (maximum sustainable yield). India’s had made claim to the extended continental shelf, in pursuant to Article 76 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The monsoon mission was launched with multi-institutional and inter-agency participation to improve the monsoon prediction over the country on all time scales. A cloud aerosol interaction precipitation experiments (CAIPEX) was carried using instrumented aircraft measurements on campaign mode. Initiated investigations on Deep Borehole (~7 Km) Observatory in Koyna-Warna region for direct and continuous monitoring of intra-plate seismic zone at depth, leading to a better understanding of the mechanics of faulting, physics of reservoir triggered earthquakes as well as earthquake hazard assessment, India became a member of Arctic council for conducting scientific research. India’s scientific proposal for deep sea drilling in the Arabian Sea has been recommended by Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP).

5. Human Resources and Infrastructure Development: Towards human resource development, an Advanced Training School was established with self contained facilities for training and research at Pune. The second batch of 20 students was inducted in August 2011 through a national selective process. To process the huge volume of data and run the weather forecasting models, the computation facilities have been substantially augmented by commissioning of a set of 4 High Performance Computing systems in various centres of the ministry which has a total combining capacity of 170 Tflops. A dedicated centre for Climate Change Research was established at Pune to address various scientific issues relating to climate change. Setting up of National Knowledge Network (NKN) connection to all the centres of MoES was accomplished for efficient communication and data transfer useful for various information services being rendered by the ministry.The ministry signed an agreement with UNESCO for establishment of International Training Centre for Operational Oceanography at INCOIS, Hyderabad. MoES Chairs were established in academic institutions like Indian Institute of Technologies for promotion of research in various branches of earth sciences. The Third Antarctic Station “Bharati” was successfully commissioned in March 2012 for operations towards conducting front ranking research. A dedicated Oceansat Satellite Ground Station was installed at Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad for real time direct reception of satellite data for various operational Ocean Information Services

(b) Yes. Madam.

(c) The progress of the ministry is satisfactory both in quantitative and qualitative terms. The performance of the ministry has been monitored objectively by the Performance Monitoring and Evaluation System (PMES) of the Cabinet Secretariat. The performance of Results -Framework Document of the ministry were 95.07% and 97.15% and 93.45%for the years 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13, respectively. The efforts made by the ministry towards augmentation of observational networks and computation capability have lead to improved prediction of weather, and climate services. According to a recent survey, various services such as agromet for farmers, potential fishing zone for fisherman, ocean state forecast for shipping, aviation services, public weather services, etc., have been extremely useful and beneficial for society at large. There has been a significant growth in research publications in recognized SCI journals during the last three years.

(d) Does not arise.

DETAILS OF EARTHQUAKES 29th August, 2013

LSQ 3202

SHRI SYED SHAHNAWAZ HUSSAIN

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) whether the Government is aware of jolts of earthquakes suffered by Bihar over the last several years;

(b) if so, the details of such earthquakes including their number and intensity during the last three years and current year, year-wise;

(c) whether Bihar State comes under the category of Seismic zone;

(d) if so, the details thereof; and

(e) the preventive steps taken by the Government in this regard?

MINISTER OF THE STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) Yes Madam.

(b) Details of earthquakes detected and located in Bihar and neighboring areas by the National Seismological Network operated by the Earth System Science Organization – India Meteorological Department (ESSO - IMD) during the years 2008-2012 and so far during current year are given at Annexure 1. Of these, the earthquake of magnitude 4.1, which occurred on 6th June, 2008 in Bihar -Jharkhand border region, was reportedly felt widely in the state. Other significant earthquakes that have occurred in the adjoining states/regions viz. Jharkhand, Sikkim, West Bengal and Nepal, could have also been experienced in parts of Bihar State.

(c) Yes Madam.

(d) As per the Seismic Zonation Map of India [IS 1893 (Part I):2002], prepared by the Bureau of Indian Standards, the country is grouped into four seismic zones viz. Zone -II, -III, -IV and – V. Of these, Zone V is seismically most active region, while zone II is the least. As per this seismic zoning map, parts of Bihar State fall in Seismic zones - V, IV and III. The Modified Mercalli (MM) intensity, which measures the impact of the earthquakes on the surface of the earth, broadly associated with various zones is presented below:

Seismic Zone Intensity on MM scale

II (Low intensity zone) VI (or less)

III (Moderate intensity zone) VII

IV (Severe intensity zone) VIII

V (Very severe intensity zone) IX (and above)

(e) Guidelines have also been published by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), Building Materials & Technology Promotion Council (BMTPC), Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) and National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) for the design and construction of earthquake resistant structures so as to minimize the loss of life and damage to property caused by earthquakes. Loss of life and damage to property due to earthquakes could considerably be reduced only through proper planning and implementation of pre and post- disaster preparedness and management strategies by respective State and Central Government agencies in a coordinated manner following the above mentioned guidelines. These guidelines are in wide circulation amongst the public and the state/local level administrative/regulatory authorities for ensuring their compliance in respect of the structural safety in various earthquake prone areas. Appropriate training programmes are periodically conducted for Architects and Masons regarding structural safety requirements.

Further, as part of pre-disaster preparedness measure, Government of India has also completed seismic microzonation studies of some of the major cities in the country such as, Jabalpur, Guwahati, Bangalore, greater Bharuch in Gujarat, Jammu in J & K, Shillong in Meghalaya, Chennai in Tamilnadu and Sikkim state. These studies involving preparation of geological, geomorphological and land use maps followed by drilling, geological logging, standard penetration test and geophysical studies to demarcate the zones of least to most damage prone areas within the urban areas helps the respective town and country planning agencies in various states/UTs to formulate perspective developmental planning within the overall earthquake impact minimization efforts.

The Government has implemented various programmes to educate and raise awareness amongst school children and general public on various aspects of earthquakes, their impacts and measures to mitigate losses. Regular field level drills and emergency response simulation exercises are organized at involving multi-level emergency responder groups and stakeholders so as to assess and augment emergency response systems appropriately.

By imparting professional training to the Engineers of the civic bodies, Government is enhancing the technical capabilities of field engineering wings to be able to survey potentially weak buildings. Guidelines for improving Earthquake Resistance of Low Strength Masonry Buildings (IS 13828:1993) that covers the special features of design and construction for improving earthquake resistance of buildings of low -strength masonry are already in force to supplement these efforts. Government is keen to see atleast from now that all new buildings constructed under various National and State schemes should be made earthquake resistant in the first instance so that no new addition to the stock of existing unsafe buildings takes place.

Annexure-I

LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.3202 FOR 29.08.2013 LIST OF EARTHQUAKES LOCATED IN and around BIHAR DURING THE PERIOD JANUARY, 2008 - AUGUST, 2013

Date & Time Latitude Longitude Depth Magnitude Location (oN) (oE) 06/06/2008 24.70 84.99 10 4.1 BIHAR-JHARKHAND 21:16:33.7 BORDER 09/06/2008 24.81 85.09 15 3.0 BIHAR 10:13:9.6 26/12/2010 24.90 85.79 15 3.1 BIHAR 05:47:16.5 27/03/2012 26.12 87.79 27 5.0 BIHAR-NEPAL BORDER 23:40:12.6 13/01/2013 26.50 86.10 10 3.0 BIHAR-NEPAL BORDER 17:35:49.0

PREDICTION ON OCEAN WEATHER 29th August, 2013

LSQ 3210

SHRI

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) whether the information is being provided with regard to the height of tides and the velocity and direction of winds in the ocean at present;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether the waverider instruments which provide every important information about the oceans are being properly utilised after they were made available;

(d) if so, whether the Government has made any assessment about the benefits likely to be accrued to fishermen from the use of waverider; and

(e) if so, the details thereof?

MINISTER OF THE STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) Yes Madam with daily prediction updates for next 5-days.

(b) Earth System Science Organization-Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (ESSO - INCOIS) is rendering operational ocean state forecasting (OSF)service by providing information that includes wave, surface currents, SST etc.,) and the Potential Fishing Zone advisories. The expected height of the tides at 178 locations along the coastline of Indian Ocean rim and at 136 locations along the coastline of India covering all major/minor ports. The dissemination of the generated ocean state forecasting system products (in graphical and digital form at each of the locations with details of high/low tide timings) is carried out through all available mechanisms viz. world wide web, emails, short message service (SMS), electronic display boards and radio etc., so as to reach to a maximum number of user groups– fishermen cooperatives, Indian Navy, Indian Coast Guard, Coastal Security Police, non- governmental organizations working with coastal population and ports/harbour authorities. Generated Ocean surface winds by the ESSO - National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF) are utilized for rendering OSF service in India. The wind forecasts (wind speed and direction) are provided at 6h interval to various coastal states and UTs of Andaman & Nicobar islands and Lakshadweep islands.

(c) Yes Madam. The wave rider buoy network plays an important role in continuous validation of location specific OSF service products and the same is also used to monitor the sea conditions while issuing ‘High Wave Alerts’ to fishermen and coastal population in local language. In addition the data is also being used to study the wave patterns along the Indian coast for various research/engineering applications. Currently 10 wave rider buoys are reporting data in real time.

(d) Yes Madam.

(e) The independent survey report titled “Impact of INCOIS scientific forecast services towards improving the lives and lively hood of fishing communities across Tamilnadu and Puducherry” prepared by M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation suggests that a significant number of fishermen prevented losses due to timely guidance of the OSF information. Another study carried out by the National Council for Applied Economic Research, New Delhi in 2010 categorically stated that “awareness of the utility of ocean state information by fishermen as well as its use is quite high; more than 90% fishermen were aware of these services in the southern coastal regions and around 64% in the eastern region.

EARTHQUAKE IN DELHI 5th December, 2013

LSQ *14

SHRI S. RAMASUBBU SHRI SANJAY DINA PATIL

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) whether the Government is aware of the recent jolts of earthquakes suffered by the national capital, Delhi;

(b) if so, the details of each of the earthquake detected along with their intensity and the losses incurred during the last three years and current year, year-wise;

(c) whether Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) comes under the category of severe seismic zone and the buildings are generally not earthquake proof; and

(d) if so, the details thereof along with the preventive measures taken/ being taken by the Government in this regard?

MINISTER FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) to (d): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

STATEMENT LAID ON THE TABLE OF THE LOK SABHA IN REPLY (a) to (d) TO STARRED QUESTION NO. 14 REGARDING “EARTHQUAKE IN DELHI” TO BE ANSWERED ON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 05, 2013

(a) Yes Madam.

(b) Low magnitude tremors (ranging from 2.5-3.3 on Richter’s scale) related to 4-earthquakes along with thud like sound have occurred in surrounding regions of NCR of Delhi on 12th November, 2013 during 0040h – 03:41h of IST. The details of earthquake related tremors recorded during last 3-years are given in the Annexure-I.

(c)-(d) Yes Madam. NCR of Delhi falls under the high active (severe) seismic zone-IV region. Bureau of Indian Standards [IS-1893 (Part-1): 2002], based on the past seismic activity history, grouped the country into four seismic zones, viz. Zone-II (least active seismic zone), Zone-III (moderately active seismic zone), Zone-IV (high active (severe) seismic zone) and Zone–V (highest active (most severe) seismic zone).

Further, the Modified Mercalli Intensity (MMI), that measures the impact of the earthquakes on the surface of the earth consisting of 12 increasing levels of intensity that range from imperceptible shaking to catastrophic destruction, is designated by Roman numerals (I-XII), for NCR of Delhi is VIII. While the magnitude for an earthquake remains the same irrespective of where it is measured, the intensity and associated impact of earthquake, however, decreases with the distance from the epicentre. Normally, damages are associated with intensity V or more. Under the MMI-VIII zone, the expected damage is given below:

# slight for specially designed structures; # considerable for ordinary buildings with partial collapse; # great for poorly built structures; # panel walls thrown out of frame structures; # fall of chimneys, factory stacks, columns, monuments and walls; # overturning of heavy furniture; # small amount ejection of sand/mud; # change in ground water levels in wells; # disturbed drivers in vehicles

By imparting professional training to the Engineers of the civic bodies, Delhi Government is enhancing the technical capabilities of field engineering wings to survey potentially weak buildings. Guidelines for improving Earthquake Resistance of Low Strength Masonry Buildings

(IS 13828:1993) that covers the special features of design and construction for improving earthquake resistance of buildings of low-strength masonry are already in force to supplement these efforts.

Ministry of Home Affairs is keen to see atleast from now that all new buildings constructed under various National and State schemes should be made earthquake resistant (as per the Bureau of Indian Standards detailed at Annexure- II) in the first instant so that no new additions to the stock of existing unsafe buildings are made.

The Delhi Government in coordination with the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) and National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) had organized 6-training programmes for training 300-Engineers of Municipal Corporation of Delhi and New Delhi Municipal Committee on the “Rapid Visual Screening (RVS)” with particular reference to the evaluation of safety criteria for dangerous buildings in Delhi. Sphere heading the RVS pilot of identifying 10000 buildings in East Delhi, NIDM in its last training programme, that concluded in November, 2012, had deliberated in detail the findings from RVS pilot study and made MCD engineers familiar with the special purpose RVS data management software. The above training programmes have kept a good balance between class room lectures and hands on exercise, along with some nondestructive testing exercises in the field.

ANNEXURE-I REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 14 FOR 05-13-2013

Annexure - I

LIST OF EARTHQUAKES OCCURED DURING YEAR 2010 OVER THE NCR DELHI

Date Origin Time Latitude (oN) Longitude Depth Magnitude (in UTC) (oE) (in Richter scale) Hr Min Sec 29-01-2010 09 41 2.4 29.17 77.01 10 3.3 03-02-2010 05 17 11.1 28.70 76.77 10 2.9 24-02-2010 19 20 52.7 28.58 76.97 10 2.6 25-02-2010 00 49 57.5 28.33 77.39 10 2.6 03-03-2010 11 48 18.7 28.83 76.97 16 2.3 05-03-2010 05 15 52.2 29.16 76.92 10 2.7 15-03-2010 08 09 22.7 28.89 76.64 10 2.3 22-03-2010 03 54 22.0 28.72 76.57 10 2.2 23-03-2010 17 46 44.0 28.66 76.62 10 2.8 15-04-2010 08 12 8.3 28.93 76.93 23 2.7 02-06-2010 18 06 4.4 28.71 76.64 10 2.6 07-06-2010 17 12 34.2 28.83 77.32 10 3.2 20-07-2010 08 31 0.8 28.76 77.02 10 2.4 30-08-2010 15 45 12.5 29.02 77.22 10 2.9 09-09-2010 22 38 39.2 28.64 76.93 12 2.3 30-09-2010 05 48 45.5 29.01 77.32 10 2.3 22-10-2010 07 04 56.5 28.69 76.59 10 2.4 03-11-2010 14 33 36.4 28.72 76.53 10 2.4 13-12-2010 09 15 1.7 29.00 76.59 10 2.3

Total number of events: 20

LIST OF EARTHQUAKES OCCURED DURING YEAR 2011 OVER THE NCR DELHI

Date Origin Time Latitude (oN) Longitude Depth Magnitude (In UTC) (oE) (in Richter scale) Hr Min Sec 05-01-2011 22 23 23.2 28.91 76.73 10 2.0 16-01-2011 12 50 51.7 28.76 76.98 10 2.3 26-01-2011 03 06 45.0 29.06 77.21 10 3.2 03-02-2011 09 33 24.7 29.03 76.65 16 2.9 18-02-2011 13 27 0.6 29.04 77.28 5 2.0 22-02-2011 10 19 2.5 28.81 76.73 10 2.2 24-02-2011 21 01 16.2 29.03 76.95 10 2.6 01-03-2011 13 26 39.2 28.44 76.59 10 1.9

15-03-2011 01 11 32.5 28.87 76.61 18 2.1 25-03-2011 07 19 25.2 28.98 77.11 17 2.8 09-04-2011 15 08 51.9 28.92 77.14 10 2.4 10-04-2011 10 45 35.7 28.69 77.40 8 2.1 27-04-2011 08 33 24.6 28.81 77.36 10 2.5 29-04-2011 11 23 45.5 28.83 77.08 10 2.2 01-06-2011 12 00 13.3 29.06 76.97 14 2.2 10-06-2011 09 11 49.2 28.96 76.78 10 2.3 11-07-2011 07 58 11.8 29.12 76.58 15 2.1 20-07-2011 20 21 15.6 28.48 76.87 10 2.1 04-08-2011 19 00 40.2 28.91 76.63 15 2.5 15-08-2011 18 22 33.7 29.07 76.67 10 2.3 23-08-2011 20 14 3.7 28.64 76.99 10 2.5 27-08-2011 20 16 10.8 28.92 76.59 10 2.0 02-09-2011 06 13 17.1 28.95 76.69 10 2.0 07-09-2011 17 58 18.6 28.63 77.11 10 3.8 09-09-2011 10 26 44.4 28.64 77.22 8 1.8 11-09-2011 21 41 54.5 28.64 77.18 12 2.0 14-09-2011 23 28 32.7 28.63 77.13 8 2.1 26-10-2011 11 21 2.2 28.14 76.93 10 2.0 04-11-2011 04 26 50.4 28.91 76.72 10 2.5 04-11-2011 15 52 54.4 28.92 77.02 15 2.6 21-11-2011 09 56 1.7 29.11 76.83 19 2.8 24-11-2011 19 09 20.5 28.70 77.15 11 2.5 27-11-2011 09 36 57.0 28.61 76.75 10 2.1 08-12-2011 01 48 34.4 28.61 77.11 10 2.6 08-12-2011 19 43 7.3 28.69 76.87 10 2.2

Total number of events: 39

LIST OF EARTHQUAKES OCCURED DURING YEAR 2012 OVER THE NCR DELHI

Date Origin Time Latitude (oN) Longitude Depth Magnitude (In UTC) (oE) (in Richter scale) Hr Min Sec 22-01-2012 04 38 22.2 28.79 76.78 14 3.0 28-01-2012 23 24 52.5 28.82 76.75 15 3.7 29-01-2012 21 37 5.5 28.84 76.75 10 3.2 12-02-2012 22 20 1.5 28.75 76.82 16 2.6 15-02-2012 06 26 53.7 28.70 76.81 16 2.6 05-03-2012 07 41 4.0 28.70 76.59 14 5.1 12-03-2012 22 07 21.7 29.04 76.97 10 3.6 24-03-2012 07 45 17.5 28.52 76.75 18 3.0 04-04-2012 01 10 26.7 28.76 76.84 18 2.4 17-05-2012 13 39 19.0 28.90 76.70 27 3.5 13-06-2012 03 16 3.0 28.70 76.60 10 2.8 19-6-2012 14 00 8.0 28.70 76.60 5 3.8 22-06-2012 02 44 42.0 29.00 77.10 7 3.5 22-06-2012 04 38 47.0 29.00 77.00 15 3.4 19-11-2012 06 25 21.0 28.70 76.60 5 3.5 19-11-2012 22 32 0.0 28.60 76.80 10 2.9 20-12-2012 03 44 15.0 28.60 76.70 20 2.7

Total number of events: 18

LIST OF EARTHQUAKES OCCURED DURING YEAR 2013 (till 28th November, 2013) OVER THE NCR DELHI

Date Origin Time Latitude (oN) Longitude Depth Magnitude (in UTC) (oE) (in Richter Hr Min Sec scale)

06-02-2013 08 22 45.0 28.80 76.50 5 2.7 10-04-2013 20 10 1.0 29.00 76.60 10 3.5 29-04-2013 00 57 5.0 29.00 77.20 5 3.0 18-07-2013 12 55 28.0 28.70 76.60 10 3.0 11-10-2013 18 05 34.0 28.80 76.70 10 3.3 11-11-2013 19 11 19.0 28.62 77.19 16 3.1 11-11-2013 19 12 34.0 28.61 77.24 13 2.2 11-10-2013 19 15 56.0 28.67 77.05 5 1.0 11-11-2013 19 37 17.0 28.61 77.18 10 1.3 11-10-2013 20 11 33.0 28.63 77.20 15 3.3 11-11-2013 20 25 08.0 28.64 77.16 15 2.5 11-10-2013 20 29 33.0 28.66 77.13 5 1.8 11-11-2013 20 33 42.0 28.66 77.07 8 1.7 11-10-2013 20 39 43.0 28.61 77.23 13 1.7 11-11-2013 20 40 23.0 28.61 77.24 12 1.8 11-10-2013 21 03 42.0 28.59 77.34 9 2.0 11-11-2013 22 10 45.0 28.65 77.14 13 2.8 11-10-2013 23 25 39.0 28.66 77.12 13 1.9 13-11-2013 10 38 22.0 28.69 77.05 7 1.5 13-10-2013 11 06 11.0 28.65 77.15 13 1.3 15-10-2013 03 06 32.0 28.64 77.04 11 1.6 15-11-2013 22 17 10.0 28.66 77.08 6 2.6 17-10-2013 06 48 25.0 28.61 77.27 12 1.7 18-11-2013 07 15 35.0 28.53 76.97 5 1.8

Total number of events: 24

Annexure-II

Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has published various standards/codes on earthquake engineering. A list of standards is enclosed.

LIST OF RELEVANT INDIAN STANDARDS ON EARTHQUAKE RESISTANT DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION

S. No. IS Number Title

*1. IS 1893: 1984 Criteria for earthquake resistant design of Structures

2. IS 1893(Part 1): 2002 Criteria for earthquake resistant design of structures: Part 1 General Provisions and buildings

*3. IS 1893(Part 4) : 2005 Criteria for earthquake resistant design of Structures: Part 4 Industrial structures including stack like structures.

*4. IS 436:1993 Code of practice for earthquake resistant design and construction of buildings

5. IS 4991:1968 Criteria for blast resistant design of structures for explosions above ground

6. IS 6922:1973 Criteria for safety and design of structures subject to underground blasts

7. IS 13827: 1993 Improving earthquake resistance of earthen building – Guidelines

8. IS 13828:1993 Improving earthquake resistance of low strength masonry building – Guidelines

9. IS 13920:1993 Ductile detailing of reinforced concrete structures subjected to seismic forces- code of practice.

10. IS 13935: 2009 Seismic evaluation repair and strengthening of masonry buildings – Guidelines

* Under Revision

FINALISED DRAFTS UNDER PRINT

S. No. DOC Number Title

1 DOC.CED 39 (7231) Criteria for Earthquake Resistant Design of Structures; Part Liquid Retaining Tanks

2. DOC.CED 39 (7620) Seismic Evaluation and Strengthening of Exiting Reinforced Concrete Building - Guidelines.

3 DOC.CED 39 (7620) Earthquake Resistant Design and Construction of Building – Code of Practice (Third revision of IS 4326)

4. DOC.CED 39 (7739) Draft Indian Standards criteria for Earthquake Resistant Design of Structures: Part 3 Bridges and Retaining Walls.

FUNCTIONING OF IMD 5th December, 2013

LSQ 18

SMT. DARSHANA VIKRAM JARDOSH

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) whether the Government has taken steps to enhance efficiency of functioning of India Meteorological Department (IMD);

(b) if so, the details thereof; and

(c) the action taken by the Government for better coordination with State Governments in this regard?

MINISTER FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) Yes Madam.

(b) Improvement of weather forecasting services is a continuous process. As part of its XI five year plan, Government has initiated a comprehensive modernization programme for Earth System Science Organization-India Meteorological Department (ESSO-IMD) covering upgradation of (i) observation systems (ii) advanced data assimilation tools (iii) advanced communication and IT infrastructure (iv) high performance computing systems and (v) intensive/sophisticated training of IMD personnel to facilitate the implementation of advanced global/regional/meso-scale prediction models for improving the accuracy of weather forecasts in all temporal and spatial scales and for quick dissemination of weather forecast assessments/warnings to the users.

Operational implementation of improved forecast suite of models after the commissioning of the High Performance Computing (HPC) systems have enhanced the weather forecasting capacities through assimilating all available

global satellite radiance data for the production of forecast products at 22Km grid globally and 9Kms/3Kms grid over India/regional/mega city domains.

The performance evaluation of the updated global/meso-scale forecast systems for the past 5-7 years have demonstrated enhanced forecast skill by about 18% quantitatively as far as the track and landfall forecasts of the tropical cyclones are concerned.

ESSO-IMD has operationalized its location specific nowcasting weather service across the country. This service activity currently covers 117 urban centres on experimental basis under which nowcast of severe weather (Thunderstorms; heavy rainfall from lows/depressions over the land) in 3-6h range is issued. Origin, development/movement of severe weather phenomena are regularly monitored through DWRs and with all available other observing systems (AWSs; ARGs; Automatic Weather Observing Systems-AWOS; satellite derived wind vectors, temperature, moisture fields etc.)

During the XII Plan, under the National Monsoon Mission initiative, other institutions of ESSO, the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (ESSO-IITM), Pune, Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (ESSO- INCOIS), Hyderabad and National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (ESSO-NCMRWF), NOIDA have embarked upon to build a state- of-the-art coupled ocean-atmospheric climate model for a) improved prediction of monsoon rainfall on extended range to seasonal time scale (16 days to one season) and b) improved prediction of temperature, rainfall and extreme weather events on short to medium range time scale (up to 15 days) so that forecast skill gets quantitatively improved further for operational services of ESSO-IMD.

(c) Integrated Agro-meteorological Advisory Service (AAS) is rendered now on twice-weekly basis in collaboration with State Agricultural Universities (SAUs), institutions of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) etc. Realized weather of the previous week and quantitative district level weather forecast for next 5-days in respect of rainfall, maximum temperature, minimum temperature, wind speed, wind direction, relative humidity and clouds as well as weekly cumulative rainfall forecast are provided. Further, crop specific advisories, generated in partnership with SAUs and ICAR, to help the farmers are issued and widely disseminated. The AAS of ESSO-IMD has been successful in providing the crop specific advisories to the farmers at the district/agro-climatic zone level twice weekly through different print/visual/Radio/ IT based wider dissemination media including short message service (SMS) and Interactive Voice Response Service (IVRS) facilitating for appropriate field level actions.

Under IAAS programme, district and agro-climatic zone scale advisories have already been disseminated successfully to the farming community through various national and regional level communication mechanisms, viz. print, TV and All India Radio, web media channels, SMS and IVRS in collaboration with different public and private organizations, namely IFFCO Kisan Sanchar (IKSL) Ltd., Reuters Market Light (RML), Nokia Tools, Department of Agriculture, Government of Maharashtra, etc. At present, 18 states namely Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, West Bengal, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh have been covered under such services. Presently 3.4 million farmers in the country have been subscribed to SMS services. ESSO- IMD, in coordination with State Governments, is already generating forecasts for major pilgrimages such as Amarnath Yatra, Manasasarovar Yatra, Chardham Yatra, Kumbhmela etc. and also various mountaineering expeditions launched by Armed Forces for Mount Everest and several other Himalayan mountain ranges.

SEISMIC FORECASTING 5th December, 2013

LSQ 25

SHRI KIRODI LAL

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) whether the Government has adopted new technological skills and programme for research on seismology and seismic forecasting;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether frequency of occurrence of earthquake in the country has increased;

(d) if so, the areas where occurrence of earthquake has been noticed during the last one year in the country and the details thereof with intensity;

(e) whether the Government proposes to establish a dedicated seismological research laboratory;

(f) if so, the details thereof;

(g) whether the Government has made efforts to identify seismic zones and reassess seismic zones; and

(h) if so, the details thereof?

MINISTER FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) Yes Madam in respect of seismological research and studying earthquake pre- cursors but not on seismic forecasting per se.

(b) To study earthquake precursors in an integrated manner, India had set up Multi - Parameter Geophysical Observatories (MPGOs) at Ghuttu, Central Himalaya and Shillong, Eastern Himalaya. Supplemented by the dense network of broadband seismometers, the MPGOs are designed to record precursory signals resulting from stress- induced changes in density, magnetization, resistivity, seismic wave velocity, fracture propagation, crustal deformation, electromagnetic and radon gas emission as well as fluctuations in hydrological parameters. In addition, 3- field stations located at hot spring and mud-volcano at Bakreswar, West Bengal; Tatta Pani (J & K) and Baratang (A & N Islands) were upgraded with advanced instrumentation for recording hourly concentration changes in stable gases as well as the radioactive constituents. During the last 12-months, the installed network recorded 5-anomalies that were correlated with regional earthquakes of magnitude =4.0M that have occurred in hypocentral distances ranging from 250-1500Kms.

Preparatory level pilot studies have been initiated to carry out scientific investigations and select the suitable site for deep borehole drilling in the Koyna-Warna region. The investigations include, Seismological, Geophysical (seismic, gravity, magnetic), LIDAR, geomorphology and structural geological studies, apart from a few shallow (~ 1 km) exploratory boreholes.

(c) No apparent increase in the frequency of incidents of earthquake in the country has been noticed.

(d) Does not arise.

(e) Yes Madam.

(f) The Earth System Science Organization (ESSO) of the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) is in the process of re- structuring the operational seismology and earthquake research in the country under the umbrella of a dedicated Center in Seismology. The broad objectives of the Center are as follows: i) Provide earthquake (M: 3.0 and above) related information to all user agencies in shortest possible time. ii) Provide earthquake hazard and risk related products of specific region, required by various agencies for institutionalizing various preventive measures for design and construction of earthquake resistant structures, land use planning and for enacting building bye-laws towards minimizing damage to property and loss of lives due to earthquakes. iii) Carry out research in pure and applied seismology and earthquake precursory phenomena, earthquake processes and modeling.

(g) Yes Madam.

(h) Earthquake prone areas of the county have been identified on the basis of scientific inputs relating to seismicity, earthquakes occurred in the past and tectonic setup of the region. Bureau of Indian Standards [IS-1893 (Part-1): 2002], based on the past seismic activity history, grouped the country into four seismic zones, viz. Zone-II (least active seismic zone), Zone-III (moderately active seismic zone), Zone-IV (high active(severe) seismic zone) and Zone–V (highest active (most severe) seismic zone). Details of the various geographical areas falling under various categories of seismic zones are presented in the Annexure.

ANNEXURE-I REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.25 FOR 05-12- 2013 Annexure

Seismic Zones in India

Seismic Zone Region Zone – V Entire north eastern India, parts of Jammu and Kashmir, [highest active (most severe) seismic zone] Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Rann of Kutch in Gujarat, part of North Bihar and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Zone – IV Remaining parts of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal [high active (severe) seismic zone] Pradesh, National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, Sikkim, Northern Parts of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal, parts of Gujarat and small portions of Maharashtra near the west coast and Rajasthan. Zone – III Kerala, Goa, Lakshadweep islands, remaining parts of Uttar (moderately active seismic zone) Pradesh, Gujarat and West Bengal, Parts of Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu and Karnataka. Zone – II Remaining parts of country. (least active seismic zone)

TSUNAMI WARNING SYSTEM 5th December, 2013

LSQ 67

SHRI A.K.S. VIJAYAN

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) whether Tsunami Warning System has been installed and is fully functional in the Indian Ocean;

(b) if so, the details thereof and the extent of data collection from this system;

(c) the reaction time to alert people in the country about any imminent danger of Tsunami or earthquake?

MINISTER FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) Yes Madam.

(b) The Indian Tsunami Early Warning Centre (ITEWC) was established and made fully functional since 2007 and is now rendering operational services as a Regional Tsunami Watch Provider (RTWP) for whole of the Indian

Ocean Region by the Earth System Science Organization - Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Sciences (ESSO-INCOIS) of the Ministry of Earth Sciences located in Hyderabad.

ITEWC comprises real-time seismic monitoring network of 17 broadband seismic stations apart from other national and international seismic stations to detect under- sea tsunamigenic earthquakes from the two known subduction zones of Andaman-Sumatra and Makran in Indian Ocean which can potentially affect entire Indian coastal states and Island regions, a network of real-time sea-level sensors with Bottom Pressure Recorders (BPR) in the open ocean, HF Radars for coastal currents and coastal tide gauge stations to capture tsunami wave speed and amplitude on 24 X 7 basis. All types of data collected from the ITEWC are fully archived and is fully accessible to the Decision Support System (DSS).

(c) The tsunami wave arrival time to different coastal locations depends upon the location of the under-sea earthquake and intensity. In general the tsunami reaction time will be around 2h for the Indian mainland if the earthquake has occurred in the vicinity of the two known subduction zones. As far as the Andaman & Nicobar Islands is concerned, the reaction time is around 30-minutes. Hence the standard operational procedure (SOP) and the emergency response plans are formulated in consultation with the Ministry of Home Affairs and the disaster management agencies of coastal states and UTs.

STUDY OF EARTH SCIENCES 5th December, 2013

LSQ 69

SHRI S. PAKKIRAPPA

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) the measures Government has taken to popularize the study of earth sciences amongst the youths in colleges;

(b) whether the Government is contemplating any special scheme to attract young scientists towards this stream;

(c) if so, the details thereof; and

(d) the number of doctorates awarded by various universities in the field of earth sciences during the last three years and the current year?

MINISTER FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES(SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) to (c) “The Ministry participates in two main exhibitions viz., Indian Science Congress and India International Trade Fair, and other exhibitions that are proposed by NGOs/Societies to disseminate the Ministry’s activities and achievements/new developments in the field of earth sciences. The Ministry also extends financial assistance by way of grants-in-aid to Universities/Research Organisations/NGOs for organizing symposia, seminars etc which helps in popularizing the study of earth science. “

(d) This Ministry has no specific information to offer.

NATIONAL MONSOON MISSION 5th December, 2013

LSQ 139

SHRI GOWDAR MALLIKARJUNAPPA SIDDESWARA

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) the aims and objectives of the National Mission on Monsoon;

(b) the extent to which the Mission would help in accurately providing the data relating to monsoon, floods, etc.;

(c) whether the proposal has been included in the 12th Five Year Plan for Implementation;

(d) if so, the details thereof; and

(e) if not, the reasons therefor?

MINISTER FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) Government has launched the National Monsoon Mission to set up a state- of-the-art coupled ocean-atmospheric climate model for a) improved prediction of monsoon rainfall on extended range to seasonal time scale (16 days to one season) and b) improved prediction of temperature, rainfall and extreme weather events on short to medium range time scale (up to 15 days).

(b) The mission is envisaged to achieve the operational implementation of the state-of-the art dynamical prediction system for more accurate monsoon rainfall prediction on all spatial and time scales over the Indian region. The improved system will help us in issuing more accurate short range forecasts (up to 3 days) and warnings for extreme weather events like heavy rainfall events, active (heavy) and break (weak) spells during the monsoon season in advance and more accurate seasonal forecasts for all-India monsoon rainfall.

(c) Yes Madam.

(d) An allocation for the mission is Rs. 400.0crores for a period of 5 years (2012-2017).

(e) Does not arise.

DESALINATION PLANTS 5th December, 2013

LSQ 147

MUHAMMED HAMDULLA A. B. SAYEED

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a). whether the National Institute of Ocean Technology has prepared a Detailed Project Report with revised estimates to set up desalination plants in six islands in Lakshadweep;

(b). if so, the details thereof; and

(c). the action taken by the Government in this regard?

MINISTER FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a). Yes, Madam.

(b). National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) has prepared a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for establishing desalination plants in six islands of Lakshadweep (Androth, Amini, Kadamat, Chetlat, Kiltan and Kalpeni) at an estimated cost of Rs.190.67 crore.

(c). The DPR was submitted to Lakshadweep Administration for approval of the Project by Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (MoDW&S).

RESEARCH ON CLIMATE CHANGE 5th December 2013

LSQ 183

ANURAG SINGH THAKUR

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) the number of programmes launched by the Government till date for conducting researches on climate changes and other changes on North Pole;

(b) the outcome of these programmes and researches; and

(c) the number of programmes and researches proposed to be started by the Government regarding the same?

MINISTER FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a)-(c) Ministry of Earth Sciences has a long-term program of monitoring one of the major fjords at Ny-Ålesund (1200km to the south of the North Pole) on the Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic region to understand how it may respond to changing climate. Main objective of the project is to establish a long-term comprehensive physical, chemical, biological and atmospheric measurement programme to study: i) The variability in the Arctic/Atlantic climate signal. ii) The effect of interaction between the warm Atlantic water and the cold glacial-melt iii) fresh water on the biological productivity and phytoplankton species composition iv) and diversity within the fjord. v) The winter convection and its role in the biogeochemical cycling. vi) The trigger mechanism of spring bloom and its temporal variability and biomass production. vii) The production and export of organic carbon in the fjord. In addition, following the understanding on February 2013 Delhi meeting of the Belmont Forum, a new multi- institutional Collaborative Research Activity has been proposed for exploring the linkage between the Arctic and Antarctic climate variability and the Monsoon as a new global initiative to be led by India and France.

FORECAST MECHANISM 5th December, 2013

LSQ 210

SHRI ANAND PRAKASH PARANJPE SHRI E.G. SUGAVANAM SHRI

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) whether India Meteorological Department (IMD) has proposed to improve its forecast mechanism in the landslide prone areas by installing state-of-the-art automatic weather stations and closely spaced, Doppler instruments for monitoring and developing early warning system;

(b) if so, the details thereof along with the amount allocated/earmarked for the purpose; and

(c) the time by which the said project would be completed?

MINISTER FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) Earth System Science Organization (ESSO) - IMD has formulated a plan towards building improved weather monitoring and forecasting system over western Himalayan states (Jammu & Kashmir; Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand) but not for early warning of landslides per se.

(b) A new plan scheme - Himalayan Meteorology Program is aimed at to augment various state-of-the-art observing systems by deploying Doppler Weather Radars, rain radars, Automatic Weather Stations (AWSs), Automatic Rain Gauges (ARGs) etc. The above observations will lead to improved understanding of Himalayan weather in general and severe weather in particular. The assimilation of the above observational data will facilitate improvement in now-casting and forecasting. A sum of Rs. 110crores is earmarked for this scheme within the XII Plan allocation.

(c) It is envisaged to be implemented by the end of the XII Plan period (2017).

RISE IN SEA LEVEL 12th December, 2013

LSQ *109

SHRI VILAS BABURAO MUTTEMWAR

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) whether the Government is aware that the sea level is rising owing to global warming which pose a threat to the coastal villages of the country;

(b) if so, the details thereof and the reaction of the Government thereto;

(c) whether the unorganised development in coastal areas and decrease of green belt as a result thereof, unrestrained tourism and lackadaisical approach towards coastal conservation laws pose a grave environmental threat to the coastal areas and if so, the details thereof;

(d) whether the Government has conducted any study in this regard and if so, the outcome thereof; and

(e) the steps taken/being taken by the Government to address the problem?

MINISTER FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY) a)- e) A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

STATEMENT LAID ON THE TABLE OF THE LOK SABHA IN REPLY TO (a) to (e) OF STARRED QUESTION No. 109 REGARDING “RISE IN SEA LEVEL” ASKED BY SHRI FOR ANSWER ON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2013

(a) Yes Madam.

(b) Sea level rise is a very slow phenomenon and is manifested globally with pockets of sea level rise/fall trends. Recently released Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) suggests that global mean sea level has risen by 0.19m over the period 1901-2010. Further, IPCC-AR5 reported that the mean rate of global averaged sea level rise was 1.7mm/year between 1901 and 2010 within which accelerated rate of 3.2mm/year was noticed between 1993 and 2010. Reported prevalence of similarly high rates between 1920 and 1950, the period of low global warming, suggests that sea level rise takes place in the background of several other physical factors like tsunami’s, storm surges and tidal variations, swells, normal deltaic subsidence, coastal erosion and siltation of river channels along the coastline.

However, the trends of sea level rise as estimated to be 1.3mm/year by our scientists along the Indian coasts during the last 40-50 years. However, longer term sea level data is required over the north Indian Ocean (Bay of Bengal, Arabian Sea etc.) to capture the signal of faster rising sea level. Some parts of the Indian coastline have been facing coastal erosion and river mouths are experiencing deltaic subsidence. However, it has not been established that these manifestations are only due to rise in sea level. Appropriate protection measures arising out of the coastal erosion are addressed jointly by respective state governments and the Coastal Protection and Development Advisory Committee (CPDAC) of the Central Water Commission.

(c) Yes Madam.

(d)-(e) Various studies have been undertaken using remote sensing techniques in the past for assessing the shoreline changes; mapping and delineation of entire coastal wetlands including beach vegetation, bio-shields, sea grass, opening of lagoons in certain cases and small islands etc. including their regeneration/preservation. Earth System Science Organization -Integrated Coastal and Marine Area Management (ESSO-ICMAM) Directorate of the Ministry of Earth Sciences

(MoES) has carried out mapping and demarcating of multi-hazard coastal vulnerability for the states of Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal etc. Government of India has established 26 tide gauges to continuously monitor the pattern of sea level changes all along the Indian coastline. All of these tide gauge stations are transmitting data in real time to the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES).

Based on the recommendations of the expert committee report of the Prof M. S. Swaminathan, the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) is making efforts to implement an Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) Plan for India instead of uniform Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ) framework. Accordingly, the Central Government has issued CRZ-2011 notification with a view to ensure livelihood security to the fisher communities and other local communities, living in the coastal areas, to conserve and protect coastal stretches, its unique environment and its marine area and to promote development through sustainable manner based on scientific principles taking into account the dangers of natural hazards in the coastal areas, sea level rise due to global warming, does hereby, declare the coastal stretches of the country and the water area upto its territorial water limit, excluding the islands of Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep and the marine areas surrounding these islands up to its territorial limit, as CRZ and restricts the setting up and expansion of any industry, operations or processes and manufacture or handling or storage or disposal of hazardous substances as specified in the Hazardous Substances in the aforesaid CRZ.

The MoEF has initiated Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project by establishing a Society of Integrated Coastal Management (SICOM). Under the project, SICOM will be implementing the four components, namely, (i) National Coastal Management Programme; (ii) ICZM-West Bengal; (iii) ICZM-Orissa; (iv) ICZM-Gujarat. National component includes (a) Demarcation of hazard line for mapping the entire coastline of the mainland of the country; (b) A National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM) has been established within the campus of Anna University, Chennai with its regional centres in each of the coastal States/Union territories to promote research and development in the area of coastal management including addressing issues of coastal communities.

Sea level rise can have long term impacts along the coastline. In general, it is expected that east coast of India will be more vulnerable than the west coast because of its low lying nature and hence the tendency of coastal flooding will rise if the sea level rises significantly. Multi-hazard approach that fully accounts for holistic coastal vulnerability arising from Earthquake, Cyclones, Flood, Storm Surge and Tsunami etc. is considered for developing

hazard resistant design criteria for construction of on-shore infrastructure viz. houses, buildings, special economic zones (SEZs), ports, construction of bridges for evacuation of habitants in low lying zones like Sundarbans, Bay Islands etc., Industrial and Infrastructure Corridors.

Future projections of sea level involve uncertainties which make it difficult to predict impacts with sufficient level of confidence. Quantifying the effects of heat and fresh water balance, as well as the large-scale circulation changes and basin geometry changes due to tectonic activities, through the use of observations and numerical models is crucial for understanding the subtle sea-level changes occurring in the north Indian Ocean.

India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) outlines a strategy that aims to enable the country adapt to climate change and enhances the ecological sustainability of our development path. It stresses that maintaining a high growth rate is essential for increasing living standards of the vast majority of people of India and reducing their vulnerability of the impacts of climate change.

LONG RANGE FORECASTS 12th December, 2013

LSQ 1162

SHRI S. PAKKIRAPPA

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) whether most of the long range forecasts issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) during the just concluded South-West monsoon season went wrong;

(b) if so, whether the Government has conducted any study to ascertain the reasons for making the wrong forecasts by IMD and if so the details thereof; and

(c) the measures taken to improve the working of IMD and to remove the shortcomings in the functioning thereof?

MINISTER FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a)-(b) Long range forecast of monsoon rainfall always have certain degree of error as its first assessment is issued in April and update is issued in June. The endeavor of the Earth System Science Organization (ESSO) - IMD has always been to reduce this margin of error through continuous efforts to improve. Quantitatively, monsoon season rainfall for the country as a whole has been to the extent of 106% of its long period average (LPA) as against normal monsoon outlook assessed at 98±4% of LPA issued in June and kept at 98±5% of LPA issued in April.

ESSO-IMDs monsoon forecasts are reasonably accurate as far as the verification of last 10-years long range forecasts of monsoon are concerned. Details of the forecast errors are presented below:

Period No. of years during No. of years during No. of years during Which Errors were Which Errors were Which Errors were Within ±4% Within ±4-8% higher than ±8%

2004-13 5 ( 2003; 2005;3 (2006; 2011,2013) 3 (2004; 2007; 2008; 2010; 2012) 2009)

1994-04 1 (1995) 4 (1996; 1998; 4 (1994; 1997; 2000; 2001) 1999)

Marginally above normal rainfall realized during Monsoon-2013 to certain extent is attributed to the early advance of monsoon over the entire country (by the middle of June itself as against mid-July otherwise) and above normal frequency of monsoon low pressure systems (cyclonic circulations, lows) across central India & north peninsula.

(c) During the XII Plan, under the National Monsoon Mission initiative other institutions of ESSO, the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (ESSO-IITM), Pune, Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (ESSO-INCOIS), Hyderabad and National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (ESSO-NCMRWF), NOIDA, have embarked upon to build a state-of-the-art coupled ocean-atmospheric climate model for a) improved prediction of monsoon rainfall on extended range to seasonal time scale (16 days to one season) and b) improved prediction of temperature, rainfall and extreme weather events on short to medium range time scale (up to 15 days) so that forecast skill gets quantitatively improved further for operational services of ESSO-IMD. Experimental forecast of this year based on dynamical model framework was 104-108% as against actual rainfall of 106%.

STUDY ON CLIMATE CHANGE 12th December, 2013

LSQ 1184

SHRI N. PEETHAMBARA KURUP

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) whether the farmers are being intimated regarding climate changes with sufficient advance period;

(b) if so, whether any study/research is being conducted by the Union Government to predict the climate change well in advance;

(c) if so, the details thereof;

(d) if not, the reasons therefor; and

(e) the steps taken by the Government to predict the climate change well in advance so as to benefit the farmers?

MINISTER FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) Climate Changes operate on very longer term multi-decadal scale. Hence, most representative assessment of projected climate change scenarios are only prepared by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Under the Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa (GKMS) program of the ESSO-India Meteorological Department (IMD), the issues like climate variability (above/below normal rains; heat/cold waves etc.) and corresponding measures are intimated to the farmers through rendering appropriate Agro-meteorological Advisory Services (AAS). In addition the probable impacts of climate variability (with active and weak phases of monsoon over various parts of the country) are being communicated to the farming community. In addition, regular interaction with the farming community takes place through the Farmers’ Awareness programme, roving seminars, Krishi mela, Agri-vision workshops conducted at different locations in the country under GKMS.

GKMS is rendered now on twice-weekly basis in collaboration with State Agricultural Universities (SAUs), institutions of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) etc. Realized weather of the previous week and quantitative district level weather forecast for next 5-days in respect of rainfall, maximum temperature, minimum temperature, wind speed, wind direction, relative humidity and clouds as well as weekly cumulative rainfall forecast are provided. Further, crop specific advisories, generated in partnership with SAUs and ICAR, to help the farmers are issued and widely disseminated. The AAS of ESSO-IMD has been successful in providing the crop specific advisories to the farmers at the district/agro-climatic zone level twice weekly through different print/visual/Radio/

IT based wider dissemination media including short message service (SMS) and Interactive Voice Response Service (IVRS) facilitating for appropriate field level actions.

Further, district and agro-climatic zone scale advisories have regularly been disseminated to the farming community through various national and regional level communication mechanisms, viz. print, TV and All India Radio, web media channels, SMS and IVRS in collaboration with different public and private organizations, namely IFFCO Kisan Sanchar (IKSL) Ltd., Reuters Market Light (RML), Nokia Tools, Department of Agriculture, Government of Maharashtra, etc. At present, 18 states namely Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, West Bengal, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh have been covered under such services. Presently 3.4 million farmers in the country have been subscribed to SMS services.

(b) Yes Madam.

(c) The Centre for Climate Change Research (CCCR) was established in 2009 under the Earth System Science Organization (ESSO) – Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune of the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) with the mandate to address relevant to the science issues of climate change and to generate most representative climate change scenarios with reduced uncertainty. The CCCR had in fact contributed to the National Communications (NATCOM) by generating and sharing most representative and critical regional scale climate change scenarios to various organizations in India for sector specific impact including agriculture etc.

Further, India’s Second NATCOM report presented to United National Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2012 had contained elements of information comprising GHG inventory and vulnerability assessment and adaptation in various sectors including Agriculture besides an overview of the National Circumstances within which the challenges of climate change are being addresses and responded to.

The Government of India has accorded high priority on research and development to cope with climate change in agriculture sector. The Prime Minister’s National Action Plan on climate change has identified Agriculture as one of the eight national missions. Currently, CCCR is leading “Co-ordinated Regional Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX)” for the South Asian region under the aegis of the World Climate Research Program (WCRP) of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO). The CORDEX program provides an important framework for a co-ordinated set of downscaled regional climate simulations for both the historical past and future decades. Training workshops are conducted for end-users, stakeholders in the South Asian region.

(d) Does not arise.

(e) ESSO-IMD started working on to build appropriate climate information services under the Global Framework on Climate Services (GFCS) initiative of the WMO to account/ assess the impacts of natural variations in the climate and its extremes on various sectors including agriculture. Currently, regular monitoring of climate variability in terms of quantifying the nature of variability is carried out through anomalies of temperature (heat/cold wave); district scale rainfall (above/below normal activity); drought monitoring through standardized precipitation index (SPI) etc. It is expected that these initiatives working in tandem with the agriculture and water resources sectors, in particular, would contribute to the improved climate resilience of our agriculture productivity in times to come.

GLOBAL WARMING 12th December, 2013

LSQ 1289

SHRI JAI PRAKASH AGARWAL

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) the details of those areas of the country which run the risk of facing global warming; and

(b) the measures taken or proposed to be taken by the Government in this regard?

MINISTER FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) Spatial pattern of trend in mean annual temperature anomalies, for the period 1902-2012, suggests significant positive (increasing) trend (0.50C in general with few pockets of 1.00C) over most parts of the country except some parts of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Bihar, where significant negative (decreasing) trend was observed. No significant long-term trends are reported in the frequencies of large-scale droughts or floods in the summer monsoon season.

(b) The Government has undertaken the following steps in the area of Climate Change: i) Launched a high-priority Programme to address the Science issues of Global and Regional Climate Change (GRCC) with a well-equipped state-of-the-art Center for Climate Change Research (CCCR) at Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune for inter- disciplinary research and training in the area of science of climate change.

Development of Earth System Model (ESM) has been taken up by building additional marine biogeochemistry module to the coupled ocean-atmospheric model and numerical experimentation is carried out for ESM utilization for generating projections of global climate. Regional scale climate downscaling is carried out using variable grid (zoom) general circulation model, WRF and REGCM models.

Currently, CCCR is leading “Co-ordinated Regional Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX)” for the South Asian region under the aegis of the World Climate Research Program (WCRP) of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO). The CORDEX program provides an important framework for a co-ordinated set of downscaled regional climate simulations for both the historical past and future decades. Training workshops are conducted for end-users, stakeholders in the South Asian region. ii) Under the National Action Plan on Climate Change, it is proposed to establish a permanent institutional mechanism that will play a development and coordination role. iii) The National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) was released by the Prime Minister on 30th June 2008. iv) The National Action plan outlines eight missions in specific areas of Solar Energy, Enhanced Energy Efficiency, Sustainable Habitat, Water, Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem, Green India, Sustainable Agriculture and Strategic knowledge for Climate Change. Eight National Missions form the core of the National Action Plan, representing multipronged, long term and integrated strategies for achieving key goals in the context of climate change.

WEATHER FORECAST 12th December, 2013

LSQ 1293

SHRI SATPAL MAHARAJ

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) whether the Government is formulating or proposes to formulate any scheme to provide accurate weather forecasts in respect of monsoon, cyclone, earthquake and flood in the country;

(b) if so, the details thereof; and

(c) if not, the reasons therefor?

MINISTER FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) Yes Madam.

(b) Government has launched the National Monsoon Mission to build state-of-the-art coupled ocean-atmospheric climate model framework for a) improved prediction of monsoon rainfall on extended range to seasonal time scale (16 days to one season) and b) improved prediction of temperature, rainfall and extreme weather events on short to medium range time scale (up to 15 days). Through these efforts, an appropriate dynamical prediction system will be implemented for more accurate monsoon rainfall prediction on all spatial and time scales over the Indian region. The improved system will help us in issuing more accurate short range forecasts (up to 3 days) and warnings for extreme weather events like heavy rainfall events, active (heavy) and break (weak) spells during the monsoon season in advance and more accurate seasonal forecasts for all-India monsoon rainfall.

Operational implementation of improved forecast suite of models after the commissioning of the High Performance Computing (HPC) systems, under the Modernization of the Earth System Science Organization (ESSO) - India Meteorological Department (IMD) have enhanced the weather forecasting capacities through assimilating all available global satellite radiance data for the production of finer-scale forecast products at 22Km grid globally and 9Kms/3Kms grid over India/regional/mega city domains. The performance evaluation of the updated global/meso- scale forecast systems for the past 5-7 years have demonstrated enhanced forecast skill by about 18% quantitatively as far as the track and landfall forecasts of the tropical cyclones are concerned.

As and when the cyclone systems move in to the 500Km surveillance range of DWRs, identification of strong wind zones and pockets of heavy rainfall within the core cyclone area is carried out and their rapid changes are monitored on continuous basis. IMD currently operates 5- Doppler Weather Radars (DWR) at Chennai, Machilipatnam,

Visakhapatnam, Kolkata, Sriharikota on the east coast along with a network of Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) and Automatic Rain Gauges (ARG) for continuous weather surveillance over the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea.

There is no proven scientific technique available, anywhere in the world, to forewarn/ predict the occurrence of earthquakes. Nevertheless, efforts are continuously made world-over including India, to monitor and study various earthquake precursory phenomena in critical seismotectonic regions, which would not only help for advancing understanding of earthquake generation processes but also lead to identifying possible earthquake precursors, which may serve as potential predictors in future. As part of this, a National Program on Earthquake Precursors (NPEP) has been initiated, through a multi-institutional and multi-disciplinary mechanism to adopt an integrated approach of generation, assimilation and analyses of a variety of earthquake precursory phenomena in critical seismotectonic environments in the country in a comprehensive manner. The ESSO of the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MOES) has also launched a major program on drilling a deep bore holes in the seismically active Koyna-Warna region in Maharashtra to study in detail the ongoing earthquake generation processes in the region. The on-going scientific deep drilling investigations in the seismically active Koyna region will provide a unique opportunity and the much desired data sets to better understand the mechanisms of faulting, physics of reservoir triggered earthquakes and also contribute towards earthquake hazard assessment and develop models for earthquake forecast in future.

Central Water Commission (CWC) of the Ministry of Water Resources is the nodal agency for issuing flood forecast in India. However, vital meteorological inputs are provided by ESSO-IMD through its 10 dedicated Flood Met Offices. IMD regularly provide inputs to CWC with real time weather situation, Sub catchment wise spatial and intensity distribution of rainfall, Quantitative Precipitation Forecast (QPF), Heavy Rainfall Warning, Station wise significant rainfall amounts etc.

(c) Does not arise.

CLOUD AEROSOL INTERACTION AND PRECIPITATION ENHANCEMENT EXPERIMENT 12th December, 2013

LSQ 1373

SHRI ANURAG SINGH THAKUR

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) whether the Cloud Aerosol Interaction and Precipitation Enhancement Experiment (CAIPEEX) programme is functioning in the country;

(b) if so, the details of the locations where it has been started and whether its second phase has also started;

(c) if so, whether Himachal Pradesh or other hilly States have also been included in it;

(d) if so, the details thereof; and

(e) the achievements made under the said programme?

MINISTER FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) Yes Madam. (b) The CAIPEEX program has completed two research campaign phases during 2009-2011 and the third phase is scheduled during the current five year plan. The Phase I was designed to investigate the aerosol and cloud interaction over different parts of the country (Pune, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Pathankot, Bareilly and Guwahati) to select a suitable place for cloud seeding studies, which was second objective of CAIPEEX. Phase II was conducted subsequently with Hyderabad as a base for two years (2010-2011).

(c) No Madam.

(d) Does not arise.

(e) Details of the achievements of CAIPEX for the last 3-years and the current year are as per Annexure.

ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1373 FOR 12-12- 2013

Annexure Year Targets Achievements 2009 Cloud aerosol observations over different Studies on the variation of cloud microphysical parts of country using instrumented properties such as cloud droplet size distribution over aircraft. geographically different locations in India are pursued.

2010 Cloud aerosol observations over seeding · Studies on raindrop formation occurring in the slightly area/tropical convergence zone area of mixed cloud parcels, entrainment effects in the north India and randomized cloud seeding background of varying aerosol concentrations are operations along with DWR operating pursued. from Solapur (200 km radius from the · Augmented full-fledged Integrated Ground Radar location has been the target area for Observational Campaign (IGOC) at the central the seeding operations). location Mahabubnagar with surface instruments for measuring boundary layer parameters, aerosols, Cloud

Concentration Nuclei, trace gases, and atmospheric thermodynamics were deployed at the IGOC site. TIFR Balloon facility, Hyderabad Space Physics Laboratory (SPL), Trivendrum and University of Pune (UoP) participated in the IGOC so as to understand the role of surface and boundary layer processes and their interactions with clouds. · Studies related to droplet size distribution as a result of in cloud activation of interstitial aerosol particles in cloud updrafts and associated drop size growth are pursued. 2011 Cloud aerosol observations over seeding Development of cloud development processes, both in area/tropical convergence zone area of the seeded and unseeded environments, have been north India and randomized cloud seeding studied using C-band DWR installed at Mehbubnagar operations along with DWR operating and S-band DWR of ESSO-IMD, Hyderabad. from Mehabubnagar (200 km radius from the Radar location has been the target A fully randomized cloud seeding experiments were area for the seeding operations) conducted using both hygro-scopic flares and salt powder as seeding agents.

Processes related to the rise in warm rain depth with increase in aerosol under certain favourable conditions have been studied and further research in this regard is pursued. 2012-2013 Analysis of the phase-I and Phase-II Treatment of cloud micro-physical processes through the CAIPEX data to understand the rainfall parameterization of the indirect effect of aerosol, cloud processes. droplet, effective radius, rain drop formation, ice nucleation etc. in weather and climate models is taken up using the observations. The studies so far yielded about 20 research publications in various reviewed national and international journals of repute.

SETTING UP OF RESEARCH CENTRE 6th February, 2014

LSQ 2575

SHRI P. KARUNAKARAN

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) whether the Government has set up research centres to study and predict earthquakes, high floods and Tsunami to caution various States to be aleart to combat any such natural calamities;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) the amount allocated therefor;

(d) the steps taken by the Government to provide timely warnings to the coastal areas about the floods and other natural calamities due to earthquakes and seismic activities in the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean;

(e) whether the Department is getting support from Indian Space Research Organisation and Indian Remote Sensing Agency for this research, warning and combative activities; and

(f) if so, the details thereof?

MINISTER FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) Yes Madam.

(b) Earth System Science Organization (ESSO)-India Meteorological Department (IMD) is responsible for monitoring, detection and forecasting of Cyclones. ESSO-Indian National Center for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad is responsible for monitoring, detection and forecasting of Tsunami due to sea-bed earthquakes and storm surges associated with cyclone landfall. ESSO-IMD is responsible for monitoring, detection of Earthquakes. Other activities include carrying out research in pure and applied seismology and earthquake precursory phenomena, earthquake processes and modeling.

Government is in the process of setting up the ‘National Center for Seismology’ under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) by separating and bringing together all Seismology and earthquake hazard related activities of ESSO-IMD under its ambit.

ESSO-IMD is also responsible for monitoring, detection and forecasting of other severe weather phenomena like norwesters (severe thunder storms), dust storms, heavy rains and snow, cold and heat waves, etc., which cause destruction of life and property. ESSO- IMD also operates Flood Meteorological Offices (FMOs) at ten locations, viz. Agra, Ahmedabad, Asansol, Bhubaneshwar, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jalpaiguri, Lucknow, New Delhi and Patna. During the flood season, FMOs provide valuable meteorological support to the Central Water Commission (CWC) for issuing flood warnings in respect of the 43 rivers of India: i)Agra - Lower Yamuna and Betwa ; ii)Ahmedabad - Narmada, Tapi, Mahi, Sabarmati, Banas and Deman Ganga; iii)Asansol - Ajay, Mayurakshi and Kangsabati; iv)Bhubaneshwar - Mahanadi, Brahmani, Baiterini, Bruhaba-lang, Subernarekha, Rushkulya and Vansdhara; v)Guwahati - Brahmaputra and Barak; vi)Hyderabad - Godawari and Krishna; vii)Jalpaiguri – Teesta; viii)Lucknow - Ganga, Ramganga, Gomti, Sai, Rapti Ghagra and Samda; ix)New Delhi - Upper Yamuna, Lower Yamuna, Sahibi; x)Patna - Kosi, Mahananda, Baghmati, Kamla, Gandak, Buri Gandak,North Koel, Kanhar, PunPun and Upper Sone.

(c) During the XII Plan, all the above activities related to cyclones, flood meteorological office, severe weather etc. are covered under the regular budget allocated for the sustenance of the various operational atmospheric observing systems and services of ESSO – IMD having an overall allocation of Rs. 700 crores and ESSO- Seismological Research having an overall allocation of Rs. 796 crores. The allocation of Rs. 84.11crores is made to ESSO-INCOIS for operating Warning System for Tsunami and Storm Surges.

(d) 24X7 and 7-days a week system of weather surveillance and forecasting is operational at ESSO-IMD for continued monitoring, detection and warning of Cyclones; river basin scale meteorological support(monitoring and warning) for CWCs river flood warning system; other severe weather systems, and Earthquakes. 24X7 and 7-days a week system of sea bed earthquake monitoring and tsunami warning for north Indian Ocean, as Regional Tsunami Warning Provider (RTWP), is operational at ESSO-INCOIS for continued monitoring, detection and warning of Tsunamis and Storm Surges.

Fully organized protocol exists between ESSO-IMD and ESSO-INCOIS, with the various designated disaster management authorities at centre and state levels for dissemination of weather forecast warning alerts and such existing dissemination protocol is always duly complied with by ESSO-IMD and ESSO-INCOIS.

(e) Yes Madam.

(f) Satellite ground reception stations are established with the support of ISRO at ESSO-IMD and ESSO-INCOIS to receive data from various satellites and also to receive real time data from land/ocean based observing systems (Automatic Weather Stations, Automatic Rain Gauge, Buoys, Sea Level Sensors etc.).

WEATHER FORECASTING 13th February, 2014

LSQ 3759

SHRI ANURAG SINGH THAKUR

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) whether the weather forecasting in the country is not as accurate as should have been;

(b) if so, whether our country is still lagging far behind from other countries in making accurate weather forecast; and

(c) if so, the efforts being made by the Government for making accurate and rational weather forecasting in the country?

MINISTER FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) No Madam. There is no reason to carry such impression about the performance of the Earth System Science Organization-India Meteorological Department (ESSO-IMD) that operates a dedicated weather and climate monitoring, detection and warning services useful for various sectors of economy. During the past few years, the ESSO-IMD has been continuously improving weather prediction services in terms of accuracy, lead time and associated impact. Manifestation of such quantitative improvement may be seen with accurate prediction of Very Severe Cyclonic Storm ‘Phailin’ and the heavy rainfall events during monsoon season 2013.

(b) No Madam. The weather forecasting systems in the country are comparable to most of the countries in the world with respect to rainfall forecasting. Efforts are being made to optimize the level of efficiency of the forecasting systems.

(c) Improvement of weather forecasting services is a continuous process. As part of its XI five year plan, Government has initiated a comprehensive modernization programme for ESSO-IMD covering upgradation of (i) observation systems

(ii) advanced data assimilation tools (iii) advanced communication and IT infrastructure (iv) high performance computing systems and (v) intensive/sophisticated training of ESSO- IMD personnel to facilitate the implementation of advanced global/regional/ meso-scale prediction models for improving the accuracy of weather forecasts in all temporal and spatial scales and for quick dissemination of weather forecast assessments/warnings to the users.

Operational implementation of improved forecast suite of models after the commissioning of the High Performance Computing (HPC) systems have enhanced the weather forecasting capacities through assimilating all available global satellite radiance data for the production of forecast products at 22Km grid globally and 9Kms/3Kms grid over India/regional/mega city domains.

The performance evaluation of the updated global/meso-scale forecast systems for the past 5-7 years have demonstrated enhanced forecast skill by about 18% quantitatively as far as the track and landfall forecasts of the tropical cyclones are concerned.

ESSO-IMD has operationalized its location specific nowcasting weather service across the country. This service activity currently covers 117 urban centres on experimental basis under which nowcast of severe weather (Thunderstorms; heavy rainfall from lows/depressions over the land) in 3-6h range is issued. Origin, development/movement of severe weather phenomena are regularly monitored through DWRs and with all available other observing systems (AWSs; ARGs; Automatic Weather Observing Systems-AWOS; satellite derived wind vectors, temperature, moisture fields etc.)

During the XII Plan, under the National Monsoon Mission initiative, other institutions of ESSO, the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (ESSO-IITM), Pune, Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (ESSO- INCOIS), Hyderabad and National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (ESSO-NCMRWF), NOIDA have embarked upon to build a state-of-the-art coupled ocean-atmospheric climate model for a) improved prediction of monsoon rainfall on extended range to seasonal time scale (16 days to one season) and b) improved prediction of temperature, rainfall and extreme weather events on short to medium range time scale (up to 15 days) so that forecast skill gets quantitatively improved further for operational services of ESSO-IMD.

FORECASTING CAPABILITY 20th February, 2014

LSQ *397

SHRI BHISMA SHANKAR ALIAS KUSHAL TIWARI

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) the details of the status of the various ongoing research projects undertaken by Earth System Science Organization and UK jointly, project-wise;

(b) whether the said projects would help us to improve our forecasting capability of various weather and climate related phenomena and natural hazards;

(c) if so, the details thereof; and

(d) the other steps taken/being taken by the Government in this regards?

MINISTER FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) – (d) A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

STATEMENT LAID ON THE TABLE OF THE LOK SABHA IN REPLY TO (a) to (d) OF STARRED QUESTION No. 397 REGARDING “FORECASTING CAPABILITY” ASKED BY SHRI BHISMA SHANKER ALIAS KUSHAL TIWARI FOR ANSWER ON THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2014

(a) MoU was signed on 1st March 2013 with Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) to establish an appropriate research cooperation umbrella between the UK and Indian earth system science, climate and environmental research communities. The endeavor of the MoU will be to promote collaboration in the area of Meteorology, Oceanography, Climate variability and change, hydrology, cryosphere, natural hazards and biodiversity by promoting information sharing and identification of new opportunities of collaboration through networking, exchange of scientific and technical capacities, and co-funding of research projects through joint calls. It is envisaged that the MoU provides a suitable joint research and development mechanism to address some of the significant scientific challenges in the Asian region relating to improved understanding of the regional scale monsoon; the possible influence of weather and climate circulation patterns of northern Europe; and the important (and poorly understood) changing water cycle where in interactions between climate, glaciers, groundwater and whole sustainability of water resources. The following projects have been taken up:

(i) Hydrologic and carbon services in the Western Ghats: Response of forests and agro-ecosystems to extreme rainfall events (With University of Dundee)

(ii) South Asian Precipitation : A Seamless Assessment SAPRISE (With University of Exeter)

(iii) Hydro-meteorological feedback and changes in water storage and fluxes in northern Indian basins (With Imperial College, London)

(iv) Mitigating climate change impacts on India agriculture through improved irrigation water Management (with Heriot- Watt University)

(v) The structure and dynamics of groundwater systems in north western India under past, present and future climates (With Durham University)Under the Monsoon Mission program, as against the international call for research proposals to improve the monsoon prediction, the following projects have been taken up with UK

(vi) Improved Indo-UK capability for seamless forecasting of monsoon rainfall: from days to the Season (with University of Reading)

(vii) Indian Monsoon Data Assimilation and Analysis (IMDAA) (with U.K. Met Office)

(viii) Stochastic Parameterization and Forecasting of wind energy in India (with Imperial College)

(b) Yes Madam.

(c) The projects under monsoon mission are taken up to improve our capability for forecasting of monsoon rainfall from days to the season using the identical modelling framework and to characteristic dynamical onset, development and decay of the Indian monsoon from 1979 onwards.

(d) Under the institutional cooperation initiative between the Earth System Science Organization – National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (ESSO-NCMRWF) and United Kingdom Meteorological Office (UKMO), global data assimilation – forecast system of UKMO is currently under exhaustive performance evaluation in respect of capturing local/regional/global scale monsoon rainfall prediction.

PRODUCTION OF DRINKING WATER FROM SEA WATER 20th February, 2014

LSQ 4284

SHRI GOWDAR MALLIKARJUNAPPA SIDDESWARA

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) whether the Government has formulated any scheme to install a large number of plants in the coastal areas of the country for producing drinking water from sea water;

(b) if so, the details thereof and the per litre cost of drinking water so produced from these plants; and

(c) the time by which the said scheme is likely to be implemented?

MINISTER FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) Yes Madam.

(b) The National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) an autonomous body of the Ministry of Earth Sciences has indigenously designed, developed and demonstrated desalination technology for conversion of sea water into potable water based on Low Temperature Thermal Desalination (LTTD) technology. The LTTD is a process under which the warm surface sea water is flash evaporated at low pressure and the vapour is condensed with cold deep sea water.

This technology is efficient and suitable for island territories of India. Till date, 3 LTTD plants have been successfully commissioned in the country, one each at Kavaratti, Minicoy, Agatti, Lakshadweep .

The capacity of each of these LTTD plants is 1 lakh liter per day of potable water. ESSO – NIOT initiated a Prototype LTTD plant with a capacity of generating 2 million litres of potable water per day (2 MLD) at Tuticorin Thermal Power station, Tamil Nadu.

The cost per liter of desalination would depend on the technology used and cost of electricity which varies from place to place. According to the cost estimates made recently by an independent agency for LTTD technology, the operational costs per litre of desalinated potable water is about 61 paise for island based plants.

(c) The LTTD plant at Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu are proposed to be implemented during the XII plan period.

PREDICTION OF NATURAL CALAMITIES IN COASTAL AREAS 20th February, 2014

LSQ 4324

SHRI S. ALAGIRI SHRI MANSUKHBHAI D. VASAVA

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) the details of instruments developed and installed so far on latest technology to predict natural calamities in coastal areas;

(b) the extent of success achieved in this regard by the Government; and

(c) the details of efforts made by the Government so far to check the natural calamities in coastal areas in the interest of people living near the coastal areas?

MINISTER FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a) Earth System Science Organization –India Meteorological Department (ESSO-IMD) has installed Doppler Weather Radars network over the coastal areas of the country to identify zones of strong wind and heavy precipitation associated with cyclone as and when cyclone moves in to the 500 km radial coverage range.

ESSO-IMD has established network of Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) and Automatic Rain Gauges (ARG) over the coastal districts to further authenticate the ground level impact associated with the cyclone landfall.

To acquire information from the seas around India, Moored Buoys, Drifters, Argo Profiling Floats, Current Meters, Wave Rider buoys, Tsunami buoys have been installed. These equipments are fitted with the state-of-the-art technology sensors, which are capable of transmitting information in near real-time through satellites from the seas around India, except those deployed in the sub- surface. Each of the equipment is designed to acquire a set of specific parameters viz., Temperature, Salinity, currents, winds, waves, depth, atmospheric pressure and humidity.

Observing systems support for the Indian Tsunami Early Warning Centre (ITEWC) comprises of real-time seismic monitoring network of 17 broadband seismic stations apart from other national and international seismic stations to

detect under-sea tsunamigenic earthquakes from the two known subduction zones of Andaman-Sumatra and Makran in Indian Ocean which can potentially affect entire Indian coastal states and Island regions, a network of real-time sea-level sensors with Bottom Pressure Recorders (BPR) in the open ocean, HF Radars for coastal currents and coastal tide gauge stations to capture tsunami wave speed and amplitude on 24 X 7 basis.

(b) A full proof 24x7 operational cyclone detection and movement mechanism exists for the assessment of intensity, track and landfall over the coastal areas of the country. Details of such monitoring mechanism include genesis of the possible cyclonic circulation over the open seas is generated by the meso-scale short range (72hrs in advance) prediction models and global scale medium range (120hrs in advance) prediction models along with monitoring sea surface temperature and moisture convergence, satellite monitoring is pursued for detecting cyclogenesis and monitoring further intensity, movement and landfall of cyclones. By leveraging all available modeling and observing systems, IMD is able to reduce the track and landfall errors of cyclones by about 7% over the last 3-4 years due to the implementation of the phase-I of the IMDs modernization programme that got quantitatively manifested with the landfall forecast of Phailin cyclone during 08-14 October 2013.

Earth System Science Organisation- Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (ESSO-INCOIS) has installed the Indian Ocean Forecasting System (INDOFOS) integrating existing forecasts of high ocean wave and the surface and subsurface parameters of the Indian Ocean. The system, at present, provides forecast on wave heights, wave direction, sea surface temperature (SST), surface currents, mixed layer depth (MLD) and depth of 20oC isotherm up to 5-7 days in advance. This system is operational since January 2010.

ITEWC was established and made fully functional since 2007 and is now rendering operational services as a Regional Tsunami Watch Provider (RTWP) for whole of the Indian Ocean Region by the ESSO-INCOIS of the Ministry of Earth Sciences located in Hyderabad. All types of data collected from the ITEWC are fully archived and is fully accessible to the Decision Support System (DSS).

(c) As a part of “Establishment of National Early Warning System for Tsunamis and Storm Surges”, the Ministry had taken up development “Coastal Vulnerability Modeling and Inundation Mapping”. Under this endeavor, a wide range of coastal vulnerability maps on different spatial scales are being generated for the entire coast of India by various agencies primarily for use in the forewarning of various ocean hazards viz., Tsunami, Cyclones and Storm Surges.

The tsunami wave arrival time to different coastal locations depends upon the location of the under-sea earthquake and intensity. In general the tsunami reaction time will be around 2h for the Indian mainland if the earthquake has occurred in the vicinity of the two known subduction zones. As far as the Andaman & Nicobar Islands is concerned, the reaction time is around 30-minutes. Hence the standard operational procedure (SOP) and the emergency response plans are formulated in consultation with the Ministry of Home Affairs and the disaster management agencies of coastal states and UTs.

AIR QUALITY MONITORING AND FORECAST 20th February, 2014

LSQ 4381

SHRI ANTO ANTONY

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:-

(a) whether the government has any mechanism to monitor and forecast air quality in the country, and

(b) if so, the details thereof including its salient features?

MINISTER FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI S. JAIPAL REDDY)

(a)-(b) Government has no mechanism to monitor and forecast air quality on the country level but site specific monitoring and 24 hrs forecasting of air quality at Metropolitan scale level has already been initiated in Delhi-NCR in 2010 and Pune in 2013 so far.

Under System of Air Quality Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) program of the Ministry i) the air quality measurements in Delhi-NCR region are carried out at 10 locations viz. IITM, Pune (Pusa Road); Delhi University; IGI Airport; NCMRWF-NOIDA (sector-62); CRRI-Mathura Road; IMD-Aya Nagar; IMD-Lodi Road; DTTE-Pitampura; CVR-Dheerpur; IIT Delhi (Hauz Khas). ii) the air quality measurements in Delhi-NCR region are carried out at 10 locations viz. IITM-Pashan; IMD-Shivaji Nagar; Pune Airport; MAEER-Alandi; Bharati Vidyapeeth-Katraj; Lohiya Udyan-Hadapsar; PCMC-Bhosari; PCMC- Nigdi; Vasantdada Sugar Institute-Manjri; KRM Hospital-Vadu Budruk.