6 months ago
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The Delhi government’s effort to induce rainfall done cloud-seeding trials connected October 23 and 29 has revived memories of akin operations successful Tamil Nadu implicit the past 50 years.
As it happened successful the latest case, the workout adjacent past was met with a humble response. The basal quality betwixt the contiguous and the past experiments was that portion the confederate State was desperately successful request of h2o to conscionable its drinking h2o and farming requirements, Delhi tried its luck with the trials to code the occupation of pollution.
In January 1970, P. Koteswaram, Director General (DG) of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), (the station past called Director General of Observatories), dropped the archetypal hint of experiments successful artificial rain-making, for which helium would clasp treatment with the Tamil Nadu government. Koteswaram, who received Padma Bhushan (1975) and was the archetypal Indian to beryllium elected arsenic Vice-President of World Meteorological Organisation during 1971-1975, referred to the palmy trials successful Delhi, Agra and Jaipur areas successful the erstwhile 10 years by seeding clouds with brackish injected from generators connected the ground.
Earlier, a study successful The Hindu dated August 18, 1968 said, the Union Ministry of Food and Agriculture successful consultation with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and the IMD had prepared a five-year strategy to behaviour experiments connected an intensive scale, utilizing craft successful a suitable region. The study said the experiments, showed an summation successful rainfall by astir 20% successful the targeted areas which included, Munnar (Kerala) and Tiruchi (TN).
As the aboriginal 1970s were not that benignant to Tamil Nadu successful presumption of rainfall, the authorities showed a keen involvement successful the conception of artificial rain. The Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) did trials successful and astir Tiruvallur for 3 months from July 1973. But Koteswaram went connected grounds saying nary definite decision was arrived that the rainfall that occurred was owed to the seeding of the clouds successful presumption of “insufficient fig of observations and immoderate applicable difficulties,” this paper reported connected May 11, 1974.
In the meantime, the Union government, astatine the behest of the Tamil Nadu government, had approached a Canadian steadfast successful Mumbai for taking up a task to induce rainfall from monsoon clouds implicit Chennai and the Nilgiris. Giving details to this regular connected April 30, 1975, the past Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu, P. Sabananayagam, enactment the estimated outgo of the task astatine ₹1 crore including the overseas speech constituent of ₹ 80 lakh.
About 2 months later, quality was retired that the artificial experiments would commence soon implicit the catchment areas of h2o sources of Chennai and the hydel areas of the Nilgiris district. The cognition would statesman aft July 12 and proceed till mid-November. A three-member squad of Americans, consisting of a crushed engineer, a aviator and a meteorologist, “would spot the rain-bearing clouds with the assistance of the radar instrumentality connected the ground, alert implicit the clouds, effect them with chemicals and marque them shed the rainfall successful the catchment areas,” stated a study successful The Hindu connected July 8, 1975. It added the Americans had conducted akin operations successful their state and successful Africa. The task outgo was chopped to ₹ 12 lakh, including ₹ 10 lakh successful overseas speech for which the Union authorities had fixed the clearance.
After the motorboat of the operations, the catchment areas received rainfall. For instance, Poondi recorded 3.7 cm connected July 21. K. Chockalingam, past Special Secretary successful the State Agriculture department, sounded cautious astir the one-to-one narration astir the experiments and the rainfall, portion saying the agelong betwixt Poondi and Red Hills excessively got rain. After completing the archetypal limb of operations connected July 29, Fred Clarke, engineer-member of the American team, claimed astir 20% much precipitation occurred due to the fact that of the seeding. Chockalingam stated determination had been immoderate inflow subsequently into the Satyamurti Sagar successful Poondi.
In an enactment with journalists successful Pune a week later, Y.P. Rao, IMD’s DG, disapproved the claims that “the artificial rain-making experimentation was palmy instantly aft a azygous flying into the clouds”. Writing an editorial, The Hindu, connected August 13, 1975, stated that “in his (Rao’s) view, specified instant valuation is not imaginable and technological tests indispensable beryllium carried retired implicit a reasonably agelong play earlier immoderate verdict connected the experimentation tin beryllium pronounced. Yet the contented progressive successful the Madras [now Chennai] experimentation relates chiefly to giving alleviation to a water-starved spot by immoderate means oregon the other.”
A fortnight earlier the dismissal of his authorities successful January 1976, the past Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, explained to journalists astir the nonaccomplishment of northeast monsoon successful the composite districts of Madurai, Ramanathapuram and Tirunelveli districts. The State authorities was contemplating approaching the American institution for unreality seeding operations implicit the districts.
Again, successful the aboriginal 1980s, the spell of drought deed the State, particularly Madras and surrounding areas. This time, the authorities was headed by M.G. Ramachandran with Chockalingam arsenic the Chief Secretary. In July 1983, the cognition was carried retired by a four-member American team, led by Thomas Henderson. A “moderate rainfall” was recorded by Poondi. The experiments went connected till October, astatine the completion of which the State authorities said the workout had outgo ₹26 lakh, according to a study of this paper connected November 18, 1983. Eight months later, the authorities sanctioned ₹62 lakh for cloud-seeding operations [which began successful July 1984] implicit the city’s reservoirs. As the concern was grim, the authorities went to the grade of enlisting the services of the violin exponent Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan, who filled the aerial connected the shores of Red Hills vessel with the strains of Amritavarshini [a raga said to person been composed by Muthuswami Dikshithar], imploring the rainfall gods to respond.
The State government’s acquisition of an craft successful 1983 for the intent came successful for disapproval of the Comptroller and Auditor General, whose study was tabled connected the level of the Assembly successful November 1987. “The State Government not lone did not follow the accustomed tender process but besides paid a terms acold successful excess of the 1 suggested by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) which inspected the second-hand aircraft,” reported this paper connected November 10, 1987. Six years later, different study stated that “the craft remained idle for privation of spares for sometime and had to beryllium sent for mandatory overhauling astatine HAL astatine a outgo of astir ₹13 lakh and yet had to beryllium disposed of.”
In 1993, erstwhile Chennai was successful the grip of yet different spell of h2o shortage, the trials were done were done. But, by then, a statement had emerged among the technological assemblage that nary country got immoderate much than 20% of rainfall implicit and supra the normal. Ten years later, the past Chief Minister Jayalalithaa made an announcement but the authorities did not construe her determination into enactment successful presumption of the lack of “conducive conditions.”
The summation of Krishna h2o and Veeranam vessel arsenic sources to Chennai h2o proviso coupled with galore seawater desalination plants has made the city’s h2o proviso presumption acold amended than what it was successful the past, rendering cloud-seeding operations retired of anyone’s thought adjacent arsenic an enactment to tackle the shortage of drinking water.
As the concern was grim, the authorities went to the grade of enlisting the services of the violin exponent Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan, who filled the aerial connected the shores of Red Hills vessel with the strains of Amritavarshini [a raga said to person been composed by Muthuswami Dikshithar, a subordinate of the Trinity of Carnatic music], imploring the rainfall gods to respond.
