National Disaster Management Authority

What is National Disaster Management Authority – NDMA?

The National Disaster Management Authority is holistic approach to reduce the disasters. It is enacted in December, 2015 by the Government of India with the objective of to be more responsive towards the Natural or man-made disasters.

Where it is located ?

• The head quarter of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) is located at the Safdarjung Enclave, New Delhi.
• NDMA has set up the different disaster division in different state for example, Gujarat state has Gandhinagar city which has the SDMA office-The Gujarat state Disaster Management Authority and it is responsible to manage Cyclone and earthquake disasters.
• NDMA runs various programs like National Cyclone Risk Management Project, School Safety project, Decision support system and others for mitigation and responsiveness for the disasters.

Member and Executive of NDMA :

• Prime minister of India, Narendra modi is the executive person for the agency National Disaster Management Authority. It is handled by the Ministry of home Affairs, Which is the parent department for the National Disaster Management Authority.
• The annual budget for the National Disaster Management Authority planned in 2013-14 is 53 million US Dollars.

• Man made Disasters includes :
• Nuclear Disaster
• Chemical Disaster
• Biological Disaster
• Natural Disasters includes :
• Earthquakes
• Floods
• Landslides
• Heat Wave
• Cyclones
• Tsunamis
• Urban Floods

The NDMA’s objectives are mentioned as a part of their responsibilities to improve the Nation by reducing the natural as well as man-made disasters below:

• To establish the Policies on disaster management also to create a policies for National Institute of Disaster Management
• NDMA has to take the immediate action on disasters for its prevention or mitigation if it is necessary
• To approve the national plan and establish the guidelines and best practices for the states or different ministries for government of India. Also to implement the plans and policies for the Disaster management.
• To give insight for the required funds to mitigate the disasters
• To provide support to other countries if it is affected by the major disasters which is determined by the central government of India.
• To keep an update of the progress on the disasters and its defined action to reduce it.

Under National Disaster Management Authority, There are multiple divisions which is listed below :

1. National Disasters and relief force.
2. Policy and Plans
3. Mitigation
4. Operations and communication and information technology
5. Administration
6. Finance
7. Capacity Building training-CBT

• National Disaster Management Authority includes the members Dr. D.N sharma, Shri Kamal Kishore, Lt Gen N C Marwah-Retd. The secretary is R K Jain-An IAS retd officer as the members of an agency. According to the multiple divisions of National Disaster Management Authority, There are Joint Secretaries, Advisors, Financial Advisors.

• According to the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India(CAG is an authority, who audits all receipts and expenditure of the Government of India and the state governments, including those of bodies and authorities substantially financed by the government) 2013 reports, There have been some points which needs to be fulfilled by NDMA :

1. The State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) for the management in the states was poor and As per the guidelines and best practices of the NDMA norm, The investment didn’t utilize properly was unbalanced. Also State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) was not punctual sending the updates on the progress to Ministry of Home affairs(MHA).
2. In National Disaster Response force(NDRF), They didn’t have the enhanced well equipped, Specialized and well trained force.
3. After spending 35 Crore on the satellite communication network, Still the communication was not fully operational and which gives the information on weather for the surveillance and monitoring. Due to this, Many communication projects was not fully developed.
4. CAG found that most of the projects being executed by the NDMA was lacking the coordination and due to this, Projects were not fully executed and abandoned from the mid-way.
5. National Guidelines and best practices created by the NDMA was not effective at all which supposed to adopted by the state governments.
6. India faced many disasters during the period between May 2008 to December 2012 but the National Executive Committee created a national plan had not met with its dully preparation and objectives.
7. Even after 6 years of enacted the Disaster Management Act, 2005, The national plan for disaster management had not been formulated.

National Disaster Management Authority wants the below help for better function leveraging :

• The fund for National Disaster for Mitigating the risks should be created with transparent process
• The Fire and Civil defense authorities should come under the National Disaster Management Authority.
• To reduce the response time, Only one party should have the whole responsibility to manage the disaster i.e. Either Home secretary or NDMA Secretary.
• The national guidelines and best practices should be executed in a way that all the divisions and parties should follow, encourage and give direction to it.

Important points to be noted :

• National Disaster Management Authority has collaboration with the 2 institutes of India( i.e Sardar Vallabh bhai patel National Police academy and Lal Bahadur Shashtri National academy of Administration) for delivering the excellent training in disaster response. It also monitors and follow the fire fighting services of India.
• Moreover the National Disaster Management Authority has collaboration with Ministry of health and family welfare in developing the healthcare division and developing the capacity building at local hospitals.