QUIZ – 2020: INSIGHTS STATIC , 29 December 2020 – Geography

Solution: d)

Guidelines issued by the Home Ministry, on disaster warning:

• Indian Meteorological Department has been designated as nodal agency for early warning for cyclone, Indian Tsunami Early Warning Centre and Indian National Centre for Oceanic Information Services for Tsunami and Central Water Commission for floods.
• The Geological Survey of India has been marked as nodal agency for issuing early warning for landslides, Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment for avalanches and Indian Meteorological Department for heat and cold waves.

Solution: a)

Drought is generally considered as a deficiency in rainfall /precipitation over an extended period, usually a season or more, resulting in a water shortage causing adverse impacts on vegetation, animals, and/or people.

There is no single, legally accepted definition of drought in India. Some states resort to their own definitions of drought. State Government is the final authority when it comes to declaring a region as drought affected. 

The Supreme Court of India stated that drought would certainly fall within the definition of “disaster” as defined under Section 2(d) of the Disaster Management (DM) Act, 2005.

Since drought is a disaster, risk assessment and risk management as well as crisis management of a drought falls completely within the purview of the Disaster Management Act, 2005.

Solution: d)

On 23 December 2005, the Government of India enacted the Disaster Management Act, which envisaged the creation of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), headed by the Prime Minister, and State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMAs) headed by respective Chief Ministers, to spearhead and implement a holistic and integrated approach to Disaster Management in India.

It involves in the following disasters

Natural Disaster:

• Earthquakes
• Floods
• Landslides
• Cyclones
• Tsunamis
• Urban Floods
• Heat Wave

Man-Made Disasters

• Nuclear and Radiological Disaster
• Chemical Disaster

Biological Disaster

Solution: b)

SDRF has been constituted by each state under the provisions of Disaster Management act 2005.

It was constituted based on the recommendations of the 13th Finance Commission.

Funding: The Central Government contributes 75% of SDRF allocation for general category States/UTs and 90% for special category States/UTs.

Heads: The state executive committee headed by the Chief Secretary is authorized to decide on all matters relating to the financing of the relief expenditure from the SDRF.

Disaster (s) covered under SDRF: Cyclone, drought, earthquake, fire, flood, tsunami, hailstorm, landslide, avalanche, cloudburst, pest attack, frost and cold waves.

Local Disaster: A State Government may use up to 10 percent of the funds available under the SDRF for providing immediate relief to the victims of natural disasters that they consider to be ‘disasters’ within the local context in the State and which are not included in the notified list of disasters of the Ministry of Home Affairs subject to the condition that the State Government has listed the State specific natural disasters and notified clear and transparent norms and guidelines for such disasters with the approval of the State Authority, i.e., the State Executive Authority (SEC).

Solution: b)

National Disaster Response Fund is defined in Section 46 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 (DM Act) as a fund managed by the Central Government for meeting the expenses for emergency response, relief and rehabilitation due to any threatening disaster situation or disaster. NDRF is constituted to supplement the funds of the State Disaster Response Funds (SDRF) of the states to facilitate immediate relief in case of calamities of a severe nature.

The DM Act defines “disaster” to mean ‘a catastrophe, mishap, calamity or grave occurrence in any area, arising from natural or man-made causes, or by accident or negligence which results in substantial loss of life or human suffering or damage to, and destruction of, property, or damage to, or degradation of, environment, and is of such a nature or magnitude as to be beyond the coping capacity of the community of the affected area.’

NDRF amount can be spent only towards meeting the expenses for emergency response, relief and rehabilitation. For projects exclusively for the purpose of mitigation, i.e, measures aimed at reducing the risk, impact or effect of a disaster or threatening disaster situation a separate fund called National Disaster Mitigation Fund has to be constituted.

NDRF is located in the “Public Accounts” of Government of India under “Reserve Funds not bearing interest”.

Department of Agriculture and Cooperation under Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) monitors relief activities for calamities associated with drought, hailstorms, pest attacks and cold wave /frost while rest of the natural calamities are monitored by Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).