Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah chaired a meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Home affairs (MHA) on ‘Disaster Management and Capacity Building’ in New Delhi, today.
The meeting was attended by Ministers of State for Home Affairs, Shri Nityanand Rai and Shri Bandi Sanjay Kumar, Members of the Committee and Union Home Secretary, along with senior officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA),National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Director General (Fire Services, Civil Defence& Home Guards) and National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM).
Addressing the meeting, Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Shri Amit Shah said that before 2014, there was a relief-centric approach towards disaster management, which was changed to a rescue-centric approach by the Modi government, by changing the approach and strategy.
He said that in the last 10 years, many major policy-related and institutional decisions have been taken in the field of disaster management. He said that the disaster response policy of the Modi government is based on four pillars of capacity building, speed, efficiency and accuracy.
This has resulted in significant prevention during disasters, from the 1999 super cyclone in Odisha that killed 10,000 people to the 2023 Biparjoy in Gujarat and 2024 Dana in Odisha with zero casualties.
The Home Minister said that as a result of the efforts of the Modi Government in the field of disaster management, there has been 98 per cent reduction in the damage caused by cyclones and a significant reduction in the casualties of heat waves.
The Home Minister mentioned about the recent cloudburst and landslide incidents in several states and said a strategy is being formulated to deal with cloudbursts and landslides. Shri Amit Shah said that in the Modi government, a multi-dimensional approach has been adopted in the field of disaster management along with financial, institutional, structural strengthening.
He said that the focus of the Modi government is to save people from the losses caused by disasters. He said that on the basis of Prime Minister Modi's 10-point agenda, the Disaster Management (Amendment) Bill was brought in 2024, which has been worked upon with transparency, responsibility, efficiency and synergy.
The Home Minister emphasized the need to spread awareness about disaster prevention at the district and gram panchayat level. Union Home Minister said that Rs. 66 thousand crores were given to SDRF and NDRF in 2004 -2014, which has been increased almost three times to Rs. 2 lakh crore in the 10 years from 2014-2024.
He said that Rs. 1,28,122 crore has been allocated for SDRF and Rs. 54,770 crore for NDRF for the period 2021-22 to 2025-26. Shri Shah said that the Central Government has also allocated Rs. 13,693 crores for National Disaster Mitigation Fund (NDMF) and Rs. 32,031 crores for State Disaster Mitigation Fund (SDMF) for the period 2021-22 to 2025-26.
Shri Amit Shah informed that the average time taken to send Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) to disaster affected states has come down from 96 days to 8 days and in the last 10 years, 83 central teams have been sent to the states with an average of 8 days.
He said that NDMA has done important work in the use of technology and in policy making, while NDRF has worked well to implement it at the ground level.Under the National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project (NCRMP) multipurpose cyclone shelters were constructed and 92995 community volunteer and government officials were also trained in cyclone mitigation, besides establishing Early Warning Systems in 5 Coastal States.
He added that the infrastructure created under the project have proved very useful in saving lives during various cyclones. Shri Amit Shah said that with the implementation of Aapda Mitra Scheme and Yuva Aapda Mitra Scheme, Government has been paying due attention to develop capacity at community level and ensuring community participation during disasters.
Under the Aapda Mitra scheme one lakh community volunteers have been trained in 350 disaster prone districts to provide immediate response during different disasters. Government has also launched a scheme for expansion and modernization of fire services in the States with an outlay of Rs 5000 crore under which States are provided central assistance for setting up of new fire stations, strengthening of State Training Centers and capacity building etc.
Union Home Minister also informed that for the first-time mitigation funds have been constituted at the National and State level. The Central Government has also allocated Rs 13,693 crore for the National Disaster Mitigation Fund(NDMF) and Rs 32,031 crore for the State Disaster Mitigation Fund (SDMF) for the period 2021-22 to 2025-26.
Under NDMF, a number of mitigation projects have been approved with an allocation of Rs 8072 crore. Home Minister said under the leadership of Shri Narendra Modi ji, India has made significant progress in early warning dissemination. India Meteorology Department (IMD) and Central Water Commission (CWC) now give accurate forecasts for floods and cyclones 7 days in advance.
For last mile connectivity to disseminate alert to people, the Union Government has implemented a ‘Common Alerting Protocol’ based on Integrated Alert System (CAP) across the country through SMS, Coastal Siren etc.
The Home Minister emphasized on maximum publicity of 'SACHET App' which gives early warning of disasters. Union Home Minister thanked Committee Members for raising an important topic like 'Disaster Management and Capacity Building' in the meeting and for giving valuable suggestions.
The Members appreciated the significant steps taken by the Government in the field of disaster management. The Home Minister said that information related to disaster information app, guidelines and information about disaster fund released to states by the Central Government in the last 10 years will be sent to all MPs.