IMD Launches Cyclone Warning Decision Support System

The correct answer is the India Meteorological Department. The IMD, which works under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, dedicated the Cyclone Warning and Marine Weather Services Decision Support System to the nation on 12 October 2026. The platform is an interactive WebGIS system that shows storm track and intensity, the cone of uncertainty, wind distribution, storm surge warnings and district-wise rainfall warnings in one place, and it is hosted on the IMD website and on the website of the Regional Specialised Meteorological Centre at New Delhi. Option A is wrong because the National Disaster Management Authority was one of the user agencies attending the launch, not the owner of the platform. Option D is wrong for the same reason: the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting took part as a scientific participant. Option C is wrong because the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services was not named as the body behind this system.

The correct answer is the Director General of Meteorology, IMD. The bi-annual Pre-Cyclone Exercise Meeting for the post-monsoon season, covering October to December 2026, was held under the chairmanship of Dr. Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, Director General of Meteorology at the India Meteorological Department, who is also the 3rd Vice President of the World Meteorological Organisation. Options A and D are wrong because the exercise is a technical review chaired by the head of the weather office, not by a minister or by the Home Ministry, although the Ministry of Home Affairs did attend as a user agency. Option C is wrong because the National Disaster Management Authority was one of more than thirty organisations that joined the meeting as participants; the chair stayed with the IMD, which issues cyclone warnings for the country and runs the Regional Specialised Meteorological Centre at New Delhi.

The correct answer is 2013 and 2014. Very Severe Cyclonic Storm Phailin crossed the coast on 12 October 2013, and Very Severe Cyclonic Storm Hudhud crossed on 12 October 2014. The two storms are remembered together because they fell on the same calendar date a year apart, and because the India Meteorological Department predicted both accurately, which earned international recognition for the country’s early-warning capability and marked important milestones in India’s disaster preparedness. That coincidence of dates is the reason the new Cyclone Warning and Marine Weather Services Decision Support System was dedicated to the nation on 12 October. Options A, C and D pair the storms with the wrong years and therefore break the link with the launch date of the platform, which is what gives the date its significance for Indian forecasters.