India has invited Pakistan and Bangladesh, among other neighbouring countries to participate in an ‘undivided India‘ seminar being organised to mark 150 years of the India Meteorological Department.
Pakistan, Bangladesh Invited For An ‘Undivided India’ Event
India has invited Pakistan and Bangladesh, among other neighbouring countries to participate in an ‘undivided India‘ seminar being organised to mark 150 years of the India Meteorological Department. This is a first-of-its-kind initiative by the government to keep differences aside and celebrate the shared history of the Indian subcontinent in unison.
Invites have been sent to Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. Besides the subcontinent, invitations have been sent to officials from the Middle East, central and Southwest Asia too. Pakistan has confirmed its participation, and a confirmation from Bangladesh is awaited. Should Dhaka confirm, it will be a historic moment.
While the Finance Ministry has decided to release a special and limited-edition Rs 150 commemorative coin to mark the special occasion, the Home Ministry has given clearance for a special tableaux on Republic Day marking the weather department’s 150 years.
India Meteorological Department
The India Meteorological Department was established on January 15, 1875. However, weather observatories had been set up much earlier. The first meteorological observatories were established by the British East India Company. The Calcutta Observatory started in 1785, the Madras Observatory in 1796 and the Bombay Observatory in 1826. Many more were set up in the early 19th century, peppered across the Indian subcontinent.
The IMD came into existence in 1875 after a cyclone ravaged Calcutta in 1864, followed by two deadly monsoon failures in 1866 and 1871 which led to famines across Bengal. Collection and analysis of meteorological observations started under one roof – an organisation named India Meteorological Department.
Since its inception in 1875, IMD was headquartered in Calcutta. In 1905 it was moved to Shimla, and then to Pune in 1928, and eventually to New Delhi in 1944, where it has remained since. When India’s space agency ISRO established itself, the weather department was one of the first to collaborate with it. India became the first developing country to launch its own geostationary satellite, INSAT, for round-the-clock weather monitoring and cyclone alerts.
Role of Indian Meteorological Department
