WINDS (Agriculture)
WINDS (Agriculture)
Why In News:
The Government highlighted progress under the WINDS, which is rolling out a nationwide network of automated weather stations to deliver hyperlocal weather data for farm level decision making.
Source: PIB, 24 July 2026
What is WINDS?
Full Form: Weather Information Network and Data System, initiated by the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare in July 2023.
Purpose: To generate long term, hyperlocal weather data by pooling observations from the India Meteorological Department (IMD), State Governments and private technical agencies into a single national portal.
Parent Scheme: Implemented as a component of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), India's flagship crop insurance scheme.
Infrastructure Being Built
Automatic Weather Stations (AWS): Being installed at every Block, Tehsil or Taluk level to record parameters such as temperature, humidity, wind speed and rainfall.
Automatic Rain Gauges (ARG): Being installed at every Gram Panchayat for precise, localised rainfall measurement.
Applications
Crop Planning and Insurance: Enables accurate, real time advisories for sowing, irrigation and pest management, and improves the assessment of crop losses under PMFBY.
Disaster Preparedness: Supports early warning for extreme weather events such as heatwaves, cyclones and droughts.
Climate Smart Agriculture: Provides the data backbone for climate resilient, data driven farming decisions.
Key Facts for Prelims
Nodal Agency: Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, in coordination with IMD.
About IMD: established in 1875, it serves as India’s National Meteorological Service and is the primary government agency dealing with meteorology and related subjects.
Administrative Control: It functions under the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
Headquarters: Located in New Delhi.
Global Role: IMD is one of the six Regional Specialized Meteoro logical Centres (RSMCs) of the World Meteorological Organization.