Pariksha SaathiDr Jitendra Singh inaugurates a new seismological observatory at Kishtwar; four more Doppler Weather Radars to be commissioned in 2027
Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences Dr Jitendra Singh inaugurated a new Seismological Observatory in the high seismic zone of Kishtwar, Jammu and Kashmir, through the Ministry of Earth Sciences on 2 November 2026. Equipped with state-of-the-art digital seismic equipment, the observatory will transmit data in real time to the Earthquake Monitoring Centre of the National Centre for Seismology in New Delhi; with it, Jammu and Kashmir now has four Seismological Observatories, at Jammu, Srinagar, Udhampur and Kishtwar. The Minister said there was earlier no Doppler Weather Radar coverage in the region, that after 2014 four Doppler Weather Radars have been installed at Banihal, Jot, Jammu and Srinagar, and that four more are set to be commissioned in 2027 at Doda, Kishtwar, Anantnag and Baramulla. From three Automatic Weather Stations earlier, at Udhampur, Kathua and Ramban, nine additional stations have been added, taking the total to 12; these include four stations in Kishtwar, two each in Doda and Ramban, and one in Kathua. Rain Gauge Stations have increased from nine to 15 across the five districts of the parliamentary constituency, weather forecasts are now disseminated at the Panchayat level across all Panchayats in the five districts, and the weather forecast and agromet advisory services have reached 5,467 beneficiaries. He also referred to the High-Altitude Cloud Physics Laboratory at Patnitop and the Regional Meteorological Centre established in Jammu, and urged citizens to act on scientific weather warnings: 'Information is important, but following the information is equally important.'
Drafted with AI assistance from the official PIB release linked above and checked against it by a second AI pass. Not line-edited by a human.
Learning context
In a written reply in the Lok Sabha on 6 August 2025, Dr Jitendra Singh said that since the National Centre for Seismology (NCS) was established under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) in August 2014, seismic observatories had increased from about 84 stations in 2014 to 168 operational observatories, with real-time data reporting via VSAT. The NCS issues monthly earthquake summary reports on its website (seismo.gov.in), and 39 reports of major/significant earthquakes had been issued since April 2020. Seismic microzonation data are produced by the MoES through the NCS: the cities of Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Guwahati, Jabalpur, Dehradun, Ahmedabad, Gandhidham and Gangtok have been covered, and around 30 cities have been taken up since 2018.
Check yourself: when, and under which ministry, was the National Centre for Seismology established, and how many operational seismic observatories did the Minister report in that reply?
In August 2014, under the Ministry of Earth Sciences; 168 (from about 84 stations in 2014).
Revision task: from this release, note where the new observatory is and where its data go, the four observatories in Jammu and Kashmir, the Doppler Weather Radars installed since 2014 and those to be commissioned, and the Automatic Weather Station, rain gauge and beneficiary figures; from the note, when the NCS was set up, the growth in seismic observatories, and the cities covered by seismic microzonation.
Test yourself
The new seismological observatory inaugurated at Kishtwar, Jammu and Kashmir, on 2 November 2026 will transmit data in real time to the Earthquake Monitoring Centre of which body?
Show the answer
Answer: National Centre for Seismology
The new observatory at Kishtwar is equipped with state-of-the-art digital seismic equipment and will transmit data in real time to the Earthquake Monitoring Centre of the National Centre for Seismology in New Delhi. With it, Jammu and Kashmir now has four Seismological Observatories, at Jammu, Srinagar, Udhampur and Kishtwar.
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