M.P. farmer to move court against IMD’s predictions

A farmers’ union leader in Madhya Pradesh’s Malwa region has threatened to move court against what he claimed as the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) “wrong” predictions leading to crop losses

A farmers’ union leader in Madhya Pradesh’s Malwa region has threatened to move court against what he claimed as the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) “wrong” predictions leading to crop losses for cultivators in recent times. However, a senior IMD scientist said farmers might have been “misled” as a private weather service predicted early monsoon this year, in contrast to the IMD forecast. He also said that cultivators should check whether the information coming to them was from genuine sources. “In most cases, the predictions released by the IMD have failed. This has led to huge losses for farmers,” Bharatiya Kisan Sangh’s Malwa prant spokesman Bharat Singh Bais said. He said they were planning to move court against the IMD’s “wrong predictions” and a final decision will be taken soon. Mr. Bais said farmers prepare for sowing as per the IMD’s forecast. “About 300-400 hectare of land was lying unused in Ujjain district alone due to the IMD’s wrong rain predictions.”