Lack of land is crippling the Department of Agriculture’s meteorological network

An ambitious public-private partnership project by the Department of Agriculture body to install automatic rain gauges and automatic weather stations in the states is progressing slowly, with completion rates in the single digits and at least a year behind schedule. More than 96% of the planned sensors are not yet installed.

This, according to the implementing companies, is the lack of land to install these weather stations and the alleged “retrospective” insistence by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) that these sensors be placed on the ground and not on rooftops.

The Weather Information Network and Data System (WINDS) is a program to create a nationwide network of weather sensors to provide hyperlocal weather data. It is mainly to help in calculating insurance and payout estimates under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY). It is run by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and is conducted through the Mahalanobis National Crop Forecast Center (MNCFC).

Over 50,000 sensors planned

Under the WINDS network, states must establish a network of sensors through their implementing private partners. The Hindu could confirm that three companies — Skymet Weather Services; Ingen Technologies Private Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Weather Risk Management Services; and Azista Industries — were jointly asked to install 1,197 Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) and 49,313 Automatic Rain Gauges (ARG), a total of about 50,500 sensors.

ARGs only measure rainfall, though about 10% of gram panchayat-level ARGs also have a temperature sensor. AWS measures precipitation along with air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and wind direction. Data from these sensors flows to data centers run by government agencies, where hourly, daily and fortnightly forecasts are prepared.

Most of the proposed sites were rejected

According to documents seen by The Hindu, Uttar Pradesh was to install 27,487 ARGs – more than half of the ARG target – followed by Uttarakhand (7,983), Odisha (7,286), Assam (2,140) and Himachal Pradesh (about 3,550).

For AWS, Odisha’s target was the highest at 434, ahead of Assam (196), UP (157) and Kerala (148). As of the September 9 status update — the latest The Hindu could confirm — the network had delivered 113 AWS (9.4% of the target) and 1,730 ARGs (4%), leaving about 48,700 (96%).

The bottleneck is mostly site selection rather than hardware, the documents reveal. Out of 27,644 seats in UP, 16,478 were rejected. In Odisha, 5,666 out of 7,720 seats were rejected, while in Kerala, 524 out of 946 seats were rejected. The documents also identify hundreds of “duplicate sites” that have been approved at the panchayat and block levels but need re-inspection, sites awaiting clearance and those that states have yet to share with implementing partners.

Retrospective changes

A representative of one of the private partner companies, who did not wish to be named, told The Hindu that the delay stems from lack of suitable land and the requirement that rain gauges be placed on the ground rather than on rooftops. He blamed changes made to the WINDS guidelines “backwards”.

The manual, published on September 1, 2023, allowed ARGs to be placed on the roof of single-storey buildings where placement requirements could not be met, or in flood-prone areas, he said, adding that IMD had approved it as a member of the WINDS committee. About two-and-a-half years later, and after six states had already issued tenders or work orders, the Agriculture Department amended the IMD advice manual on December 3, 2025 to retroactively limit rooftop ARGs to just 10% to 15% of the total, he said.

“Altitude Affects Weather Data”

IMD officials say the requirement that the ARG and AWS be located on the ground is “necessary” to ensure the accuracy of the data collected.

“The basic principle – and this is the requirement of the World Meteorological Organization, whose guidelines we follow – is that the sensors must be on the ground and only in exceptional situations should they be placed on roofs. Altitude significantly affects weather data,” S. Hosalikar, former senior meteorologist at IMD and member of the 2023 committee, told The Hindu.

The 2023 document says: “ARGs should be located on a level plot of land covered with short grass or natural soil”, ideally 4×3 meters in size. “If the requirements for suitable location are not met or in case of flood prone areas,” the ARG may continue “on the roof of a single-storey building… the rooftop units need a stable foundation and tamper-proof setting,” added the document seen by The Hindu.

Cover for roof sensors

The manual does not set any numerical limit for rooftop units. This only appears in the 2025 amendment, which sets a 10% cap. It also requires that rooftop installations be allowed only if states provide justification that there is no suitable space on the ground. In areas prone to flooding or landslides, the ceiling is 15%, with the recommendation and approval of the state being sent to the WINDS Committee.

“Measuring rainfall from the top of a building and from the ground makes a significant difference because some of the falling rain will evaporate. Second, a consistent network of ground sensors is necessary to provide standardized data, which is difficult to achieve if the sensors are on roofs (of variable height). India lives in its villages and acquiring small plots of land should not be that difficult,” said IMD Director General M. Hindu M. Mohapu He stressed that IMD is only technical partner of the project and does not manage it.

The Hindu approached Soumya Bandopadhyay, director of MNCFC, the nodal agency responsible for the project, for comment but did not receive a reply till press time.

Published – 15 Oct 2026 23:02 IST