UPSC Prelims 2026 Q84: Bharat Forecast System — Explained

Which of the following statements with regard to India's indigenous new high resolution weather model, the 'Bharat Forecast System,' is/are correct?

1. Its objective is to generate forecasts at the Panchayats cluster level.

2. It was developed by IIT Delhi.

1 only
2 only
Both 1 and 2
Neither 1 nor 2

Answer: (a) 1 only

Statement-wise explanation

1: correct — Government replies in Parliament say the Bharat Forecast System (BharatFS) was built to generate forecasts at the level of a cluster of panchayats and to predict extreme weather better. Its grid spacing is 6 km, so local weather features show up in the model. That makes forecasts usable for a group of villages or panchayats, not just a whole district.
2: incorrect — BharatFS was developed by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune. IITM is an autonomous institute under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES). IIT Delhi had no role in it. Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh launched it at Vigyan Bhawan on 26 May 2025, and the India Meteorological Department (IMD) now uses it for forecasts.

How to eliminate

This one needs facts. Option logic does not help much. Statement 1 sounds right if you remember the 2025 headlines: 'panchayat-level weather forecasts' was how the launch was reported, and a 6 km grid fits a cluster of villages. Statement 2 is where UPSC swapped the institution. Weather models in India come from Ministry of Earth Sciences bodies: IITM Pune, NCMRWF Noida and IMD. They do not come from the IITs. If you remember 'Ministry of Earth Sciences built it', you can reject IIT Delhi with confidence. Remember this: BharatFS = IITM Pune, 6 km grid, cluster-of-panchayats forecasts, runs on the supercomputer Arka.

Know more

Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) splits the atmosphere into a 3-D grid. Supercomputers then solve the equations of motion, heat and moisture at every grid point. The smaller the grid spacing, the more local the forecast can be.

Bharat Forecast System (BharatFS)

Developed by IITM Pune (Ministry of Earth Sciences). Launched 26 May 2025. Run by IMD.
Uses a Triangular Cubic Octahedral (TCo) grid at 6 km horizontal resolution. Its predecessor, GFS T1534, ran at about 12 km. Most global models run at 9–14 km.
Aim: forecasts for a cluster of panchayats/villages, and better prediction of extreme rainfall. In research mode it was about 30% more accurate for extreme rainfall.
Runs on Arka (11.77 petaflops) at IITM Pune. The second Mission Mausam system, Arunika, is at NCMRWF, Noida.

Body	Location	Role
IMD	New Delhi	National weather service; issues forecasts and warnings
IITM	Pune	Research; developed BharatFS; hosts Arka
NCMRWF	Noida	Medium-range NWP; hosts Arunika

Related initiatives

Mission Mausam (MoES) aims to make India 'Weather-ready and Climate-smart'. PM launched it on 14 January 2025. It funds better observations, models and computing.
Weather Forecasts at the Gram Panchayat Level: the Ministry of Panchayati Raj and IMD launched these in October 2024. They deliver local forecasts through panchayat portals and apps.

UPSC trap: swapping the institution, e.g. naming an IIT, ISRO or IMD as the developer instead of IITM.

In the news

BharatFS was launched on 26 May 2025, almost exactly a year before Prelims 2026. It was described as one of the world's highest-resolution operational weather models. Parliament replies in 2025 repeated its 'cluster of panchayats' objective, and Statement 1 copies that wording.

NCERT Concepts to Revise

Bharat Forecast System: The question is about this model: who built it and what forecast scale it was designed for.
Mission Mausam: BharatFS and its supercomputers belong to this mission's push for local, high-resolution forecasting.
India Meteorological Department: IMD runs BharatFS; knowing it is a separate body from the model's developer helps judge Statement 2.