Relevance : GS Paper III
Heavy rainfall in Kerala led to catastrophic floods which caused substantial loss of life, property, and infrastructure.
The Present Framework for Funding Disaster Management
- Disaster mitigation to cushion the impact of a disaster much before its onset.
- Disaster relief includes steps taken immediately before and after the disaster strikes.
- Disaster reconstruction includes rebuilding destroyed infrastructure.
Funding of disaster management
- Both GoI and state governments fund disaster management.
- GoI supports in three ways- budget, grants,and support from foreign countries.
- State governments have two avenues for support- budget, and private contributions.
The Disaster Management Act (DMA), 2005
- The act establishes three authorities to manage disasters: NDMA, SDMA, and DDMA.
- The NDMA is chaired by the Prime Minister, SDMA, and DDMA by the district collector.
Thre concerns
- NDMA has no role in sanctioning funds from the NDRF.
- Procedure for release of NDRF is subjective and cumbersome.
- None of the three mitigation funds- NDMF, SDMF and DDMF-have been notified and activated
- In the wake of the Kerala floods, some countries offered financial support. But the GoI reportedly declined these offers..
Way forward
- A national consensus is required on how to fund all the three components of disaster management—mitigation, response and reconstruction.
- The option of empowering the NDMA to manage both the response and mitigation funds at the national level needs to be explored.
- The option for permitting foreign contributions for disaster management needs to be considered.
- It may not be desirable to complicate the GST structure by levying a cess on funding of disaster relief.
