New Delhi, Nov. 3 -- The Union government is actively considering experimentation of various weather modification technologies for rain enhancement and suppression for widespread application in a few years. To begin with, a cloud chamber will be opened soon at Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology for study and experimentation of cloud seeding, according to officials. Some of these weather modification technologies will be presented at the 11th WMO Scientific Conference on Weather Modification to be hosted by IITM Pune between November 3 and 7. The last such conference took place in 2011. The conference will focus on weather modification, with special emphasis on scientific advances in the field. The conference will have sessions on the fundamentals of cloud physics and designing weather modification projects around the world. Major research and operational projects will be highlighted at this conference. These projects are particularly important for India because under Mission Mausam, one of the deliverables is "weather management." "Our goal under the Vikshit Bharat is weather management. The weather is managing us now. Can we manage weather when needed? I would say these are currently under the experimentation stage. Let's say after five years of study, these will be ready for implementation. We are mainly looking at rain enhancement and suppression depending on the region," said M Ravichandran, secretary, ministry of earth sciences. The foundation stone for the cloud chamber will be laid this year. "The chamber will be 15 metre high, among the tallest. In that chamber, environmental conditions will be developed to create clouds for study," he added. Delhi conducted a cloud seeding trial last week through Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. This was mainly to dissipate severe particulate pollution in the Capital. But the trial did not result in rain mainly due to insufficient moisture in the clouds. "The whole idea is to understand which clouds can be seeded and when. Suppose during monsoon, there is extreme rainfall and it is continuing, we are also trying to see how rain can be reduced at that time. Abu Dhabi has used cloud seeding a number of times, and their projects will also be showcased. China has also implemented these," said Ravichandran. The jury is still out on the success of these technologies. "The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) neither promotes nor discourages the practice of weather modification....