04/07/2020 - Disaster Management | Mainstorming

IAS Parliament 4 years

KEY POINTS

· It is common knowledge that India’s National Disaster Manager Authority (NDMA) is the nodal agency to initiate processes to alleviate strife and suffering arising out of disasters—biological, chemical, physical or hydrological.

· It was created under the Disaster Management (DM) Act 2005, which vested in it overriding powers to make rules and regulations for preventing, containing, evacuating, providing relief and various other related activities in the interest of the suffering public.

· As Covid-19 made its presence in the urban-scape, swathes of easily identifiable, high density, low hygiene areas should have been evacuated.

· Evacuation protocols practised by the NDMA during hydrological disasters should have helped them make policy decisions and implement guidelines for city-specific prevention and mitigation requirements.

· Also pertinent is the inadequate representation of members hailing from varied specialisations. Sadly, there is no vice-chairperson, and only five members currently serve the NDMA.

· The Act also provides for the constitution of a National Executive Committee (NEC) headed by the secretary, ministry of home affairs—the administrative ministry of NDMA—to assist the Authority. NEC is no longer assisting but is now in control, watering down the role of a national authority on disaster management.

· There is no information in the public domain about the compulsions under which the administrative structure of NDMA was downgraded.

· As per the parliamentary procedure a notification about change in service rules has to be submitted to both the Houses of Parliament, being available for scrutiny by the MPs for 30 days.

· The lack of coordination between the centre and the states can perhaps be correlated with the reduced role of NDMA.

· This structural fissure can, however, be amended if the PM should choose to empower the NDMA and appoint a suitable vice-chairman, reinstating the befitting rank in order to streamline the nation’s fight against the pandemic.

· Health scientists from the medical and community health sector can be placed as members to bolster a holistic approach. There are many such unknowns in the future, looming large is a cyber threat that is gaining more and more momentum as world dependency on AI, and IT-driven solutions grow.

Aradhana Tiwari 4 years

National Disaster Management Agency(NDMA) consituted under the Disaster Management Act (DMA),2005 - that has so far been used for localised disasters like floods (Uttarkhand 2013), cyclones (Odisha 2019), earthquakes etc., for the first time, it has been invoked to address a public health crisis; the pandemic of Covid-19.

NDMA has been tasked for the effective management of disasters- biological, chemical, physical or hydrological. But, in disaster like corona crisis, there are certain gaps in the management of NDMA, which are as follows :

- "No proper implementation of evacuation protocols" practised by the NDMA during disasters - led Covid-19, a fast-moving and highly contagious virus, to made its presence in the urban-scape, high density, low hygiene areas.

- "Failure to task NDRF(National Disaster Response Force), a specialized force for disaster response"- to help poor migrants reach their destination safely and manage containment regions in the cities.

- "For almost three long years, it has been headless" - leds to no control measures have been taken up proactively by the NDMA, in this diaaster like public health crisis.

- "Inadequate representation of members"- As per the provisions of the DMA, 2005, the vice-chairperson, along with eight members, will head the NDMA and report to the prime minister, who is the ex-officio chairman. Sadly, there is no vice-chairperson, and only five members currently serve the NDMA.

- "Spirit of co-operative federalism gets diluted " due to absence of vice-chairperson -who hold the rank of a cabinet minister, and suppose to interact and coordinate with all the chief ministers; - leds to states behaving as independent entities.

- "National Executive Committee (NEC)" headed by Union Home secretary has no longer been assisting the NDMA - leds to no proper national plan of mitigation as per mandate of the 2005 DM Act.

- "Misutilization of National Disaster Response Fund and State Disaster Response Fund"- leds to an additional burden on the exchequer.

>>> Way forward :

- Govt should appoint a suitable vice-chairman, reinstating the befitting rank in order to streamline the nation’s fight against the pandemic.

- Coordination between the centre and the states needs to be strengthened, which is further correlated with the increased role of NDMA and SDMA, respectively.

- Keeping in mind of cyber threat, NDMA need to be equipped with AI, and IT-driven solutions.

- Health scientists from the medical and community health sector can be placed as members to bolster a holistic approach.

>>> Conclusion :

India has a robust legal framework for disaster management, yet a strong institution like NDMA - is no doubt, the requirement of the day in our preparedness to battle Covid-19 pandemic.