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INDIA METEOROLOGICAL DEPARTMENT In the year 1875, the Government of India established the India Meteorological Department (IMD), bringing all meteorological work in the country under a central authority. Mr. H. F. Blanford was appointed Meteorological Reporter to the Government of India. The first Director General of Observatories was Sir John Eliot who was appointed in May 1889 at Calcutta headquarters. The headquarters of IMD were later shifted to Shimla, then to Poona (now Pune) and finally to New Delhi. IMD has progressively expanded its infrastructure for meteorological observations, communications, forecasting and weather services and it has achieved a parallel scientific growth. IMD has always used contemporary technology. In the telegraph age, it made extensive use of weather telegrams for collecting observational data and sending warnings. Later IMD became the first organisation in India to have a message switching computer for supporting its global data exchange. One of the f