Centre Adopts Technology-Enabled Initiatives For Early Warning Of Cyclone: MHA
A total fund of Rs 28184.00 crore has been allocated as SDRF fund for the current financial year 2025-26.
Published : December 2, 2025 at 10:53 PM IST
New Delhi: With cyclones and natural disasters hitting India at regular intervals, the Centre has adopted technology-enabled initiatives like the Mausamgram platform of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) and Mission Mausam as some steps in the direction of harnessing the latest technology for early warning, said Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai on Tuesday.
Mission Mausam is a 2030 initiative to scale Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven forecasts to high resolution.
"Early warning for severe weather events is supported by a state-of-the-art observation network that includes surface, upper air, remote sensing observations, seamless forecasting systems based on high-resolution dynamical models, and GIS-based tools for generating alerts and warnings. The entire system is integrated with modern telecommunication technologies to ensure the timely and effective dissemination of information," Rai said while replying to an unstarred question raised by TDP MPs BK Parthasarathi and Bastipati Nagaraju in the Lok Sabha.
To integrate AI to weather forecasting and early warning systems, IMD, in coordination with various centres of the Ministry of Earth Sciences, have implemented the AI/ML-based Advanced Dvorak Technique (AiDT) technique to estimate the intensity of cyclones, Rai said.
"IMD also utilises AI/ML-based weather forecasting products from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). Multilingual weather forecasting using the Bhashini app is being used in IMD to disseminate the information in regional languages," Rai said.
Rai said that the Centre has launched a scheme namely, Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) based Integrated Alert System (SACHET), in association with the Centre for Development of Telematics (CDOT) at a total project cost of Rs 355 crore.
"It facilitates dissemination of warnings and alerts about impending hazards to geographically referenced populations, in vernacular languages," he said.
Rai said that the development of AI/ML-based systems for flood forecasting has commenced in-house within the Central Water Commission (CWC) recently, specifically focusing on short-range level flood forecasting (Time Series Forecasting) using artificial intelligence models.
Replying to another query raised by Trinamool Congress MP Rachna Banerjee, Rai said that the primary responsibility for disaster management rests with the state governments.
"The state governments provide financial relief to the affected people in the wake of notified disasters, from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) already placed at their disposal. However, in the event of disaster of a severe nature, additional financial assistance is extended from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) as per the laid down procedure, which includes an assessment based on the visit of an Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT)," Rai said.
According to Rai, financial assistance under SDRF and NDRF in the wake of natural disasters is by way of relief of immediate nature and not for compensation of loss as suffered and claimed.
He also said that a total fund of Rs 28184.00 crore has been allocated as SDRF fund (central share of Rs 21575.20 crore and state share of Rs 6608.80) for the current financial year 2025-26, Rai said.
He added that Maharashtra has been allocated with the maximum assistance of Rs 4176.80 crore in 2025-26, followed by Madhya Pradesh - Rs 2360.00 crore and Uttar Pradesh Rs 2507.20 crore.
Responding to another unstarred question raised in the Lok Sabha on the scale of deployment of NDRF teams during the current monsoon season for rescue and relief operations, in states and UTs, especially in coastal regions like Dakshina Kannada, Rai said that NDRF has 16 battalions and 28 regional response centres (RRCs) deployed across India.
During Monsoon 2025, NDRF pre-positioned 105 teams across India in coordination with concerned state authorities for prompt response during any contingency, Rai said.
As many as 12 teams have been deployed in Gujarat followed by 11 in Maharashtra, nine teams each in Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Kerala, seven teams each in West Bengal and Karnataka, six teams in Telangana, five teams each in Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh, four teams in Bihar, two teams each in Nagaland, Rajasthan and Arunachal Pradesh and one team each in Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Manipur, Tripura, Tamil Nadu and Sikkim, the minister added.
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