A state-of-the-art Integrated Forecasting and Communication System was unveiled at the India Meteorology Department yesterday that is expected to provide more accurate weather data.

Inaugurating the hi-tech centre, Minister of State for Earth Sciences Prithviraj Chavan said, "Dynamic weather prediction models using super computers and very highly sophisticated software will start giving us more and more accurate data."

He added that agriculture, like so many sectors of Indian economy, is highly dependent on weather and climate and it was good that the IMD was moving away from he conventional forms of weather forecast to an advanced one.

"Increasing socio-economic benefits of meteorology in all fields, saving lives and protecting goods in a changing climate is the permanent mission of the India Meteorological Department."

The minister explained that to convert an age old organisation into a modern state-of-the-art system using the latest observational platforms, computing equipment, communications network was a great challenge.

"The governments took it as one of its priorities and a Rs 1000 crore programme was sanctioned by Planning Commission in 2007 and crucial components including setting up of automatic weather stations, Doppler Radars, connecting them with most high speed digital inter-connecting systems and network as well as buying super computers for numerical weather prediction were completed," he said.