Discuss the significance of Mission Mausam in strengthening India's early warning systems for extreme weather events.

Approved by the Union Cabinet in September 2024 with an outlay of ₹2,000 crore for 2024-26, Mission Mausam seeks a "weather-ready and climate-smart Bharat" [3]. Its significance lies in shifting India from broad-area forecasting to hazard-specific nowcasting, though delivery gaps temper its impact.

Densifying the observational backbone

• Targets 50 Doppler Weather Radars (DWRs), 60 radiosonde stations, 100 disdrometers, wind profilers and radiometers [3] — the raw inputs early warnings depend on.
• The network has grown from 14 DWRs in 2014 to about 50, covering over 85% of the country's area [2]; Sambalpur's radar, inaugurated as India's 51st DWR, extends cover to flood-prone inland western Odisha [1].

Improving lead time for short-fuse hazards

• DWRs track precipitation intensity and wind velocity in real time, enabling nowcasts for thunderstorms, lightning and cloudbursts — hazards that form within hours and which satellites cannot flag early enough.
• AI/ML-based modelling and high-performance computing under the Mission sharpen precision [3], while the IITM-ISRO (SAC) MoU and the X-Band radar at Mahabaleshwar add fine-resolution capability in hilly terrain [4].

Strengthening last-mile delivery

• Gram Panchayat-Level Weather Forecasting, launched with the Ministry of Panchayati Raj and delivered via e-Gramswaraj and Mausamgram, pushes alerts to the village — the unit that actually evacuates people [7].
• Multi-hazard impact-based warnings link forecasts to state disaster authorities, aiding agriculture, aviation and evacuation planning.

Limitations

• Installation is slow: only three DWRs were added in a recent year, against a target of 126 by 2026 [9]; state land handover remains the choke point [8].
• Uptime, mobile connectivity and village sirens remain incomplete [7]; a radar on the map is not yet a warning in a village.

Mission Mausam is therefore a decisive upgrade in observational and predictive capacity, but its real test is conversion of data into action. Pairing every new radar with assured uptime and panchayat-level dissemination would align it with the UN's Early Warnings for All goal and SDG-13, making resilience genuinely inclusive.