India Launches Bharat Forecast System to Enhance Monsoon Tracking and Disaster Management

New Delhi: India has launched the indigenously developed Bharat Forecast System (BFS), a high-resolution weather forecasting model aimed at improving monsoon predictions and strengthening disaster management efforts.

The Bharat Forecast System, developed by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), offers weather forecasts at an impressive 6-kilometre resolution — the highest of its kind in the world. This advancement enables the IMD to predict small-scale weather phenomena with much greater accuracy.

Calling it a “major leap in IMD’s capabilities,” Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Earth Sciences, Jitendra Singh, described the development as a proud achievement for India. “This breakthrough places India among the global leaders in weather prediction — a proud marker of our rise as the world’s fourth-largest economy under Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” he said in a post on social media platform X.

The BFS is expected to play a vital role across sectors such as agriculture, aviation, disaster management, defence, flood forecasting, and inland waterways. One of its most notable features is its ability to deliver highly localised forecasts, down to the panchayat level, helping communities prepare for extreme weather events.

Developed by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, the BFS has been in experimental use since 2022. During testing, it significantly improved forecast accuracy — by 30 to 64 percent — for a range of weather events, including monsoons, extreme rainfall, cyclones, and short-term nowcasts (forecasts for the next two hours).

The BFS marks a substantial upgrade over the previous Global Forecast System (GFS), which operated at a 12-kilometre resolution. The enhanced resolution and broader geographic coverage of the BFS will enable more precise and timely predictions of severe weather events.

Minister Singh also highlighted the government’s increased investment in Earth sciences. “When this government came to power in 2014–15, the Ministry of Earth Sciences had a budget of merely Rs 400–500 crore. Today, it has grown significantly and is nearing Rs 20,000 crore,” he told reporters.

With inputs from IANS