By IANS,
New Delhi: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) that gives you the daily update on weather forecast turns 135 Friday and the institution will showcase its journey through an exhibition here.
The day is being celebrated to commemorate H.F. Blanford taking over as Imperial Meteorological Reporter on Jan 15, 1875, at Kolkata. The headquarters of what was later renamed as the Indian Meteorological Department were later shifted from Kolkata to Shimla, then to Poona (now Pune) and finally to New Delhi.
“The Foundation Day is being celebrated with a view to promote awareness about advancements and new initiatives taken by the department for improving its capabilities and services, and to recognize offices and employees who have done excellent work,” said an official of the IMD.
The IMD is the principal government agency in all matters relating to meteorology, seismology and allied subjects.
India has some of the oldest meteorological observatories of the world, for example those at Kolkata date from 1785 and at Chennai from 1796.
From a modest beginning in 1875, IMD has progressively expanded its infrastructure for meteorological observations, communications, forecasting and weather services, and has achieved a parallel scientific growth.
One of the first few super computers introduced in the country was provided to the IMD for scientific applications in meteorology. India was the first developing country in the world to have its own geostationary satellite, INSAT, for weather monitoring of this part of the globe.