150 Rupees India Meteorological Department

The India Meteorological Department was established in 1875, making it one of the oldest scientific agencies on the subcontinent — predating the partition, both world wars, and Indian independence itself. Its founding was driven largely by the catastrophic Calcutta cyclone of 1864 and a series of subsequent famines partly attributed to failed monsoon forecasting, which forced the colonial administration to treat systematic meteorology as a matter of administrative survival rather than scientific curiosity.

This 2025 issue marks the department's 150th anniversary.