New Delhi, Aug 19 (UNI) Union Home Minister Amit Shah today chaired a meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on the topic of ‘Disaster Management and Capacity Building’, where he emphasized the notable transformation in India’s disaster response strategy under the Narendra Modi government.
Addressing the meeting, 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, a Home Ministry statement said here.
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 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 percent reduction in the damage caused by cyclones and a significant reduction in the casualties of heat waves.
He mentioned about the recent cloudburst and landslide incidents in several states and said a strategy is being formulated to deal with cloudbursts and landslides.
Shah said that in the government, a multi-dimensional approach has been adopted in the field of disaster management along with financial, institutional, structural strengthening. The focus of the government is to save people from the losses caused by disasters.
He said that on the basis of 10-point agenda, the Disaster Management (Amendment) Bill was brought in 2024, which has been worked upon with transparency, responsibility, efficiency and synergy.
He emphasized the need to spread awareness about disaster prevention at the district and gram panchayat levels.
The Home Minister said that Rs 66,000 crores were given to SDRF and NDRF in 2004 -2014, which has been increased almost three times to Rs two lakh crore in last 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.
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.
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 eight days and in the last 10 years, 83 central teams have been sent to the states with an average of eight 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 92,995 community volunteer and government officials were also trained in cyclone mitigation, besides establishing Early Warning Systems in five Coastal States.
Government has also launched a scheme for expansion and modernization of fire services in the states with an outlay of Rs 5,000 crore under which States are provided central assistance for setting up of new fire stations, strengthening of State training centres 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 8,072 crore.
The Home Minister emphasized on maximum publicity of ‘SACHET App’ which gives early warning of disasters.
He thanked committee members for raising an important topic like ‘Disaster Management and Capacity Building’ in the meeting and for giving valuable suggestions.
The meeting was attended by Ministers of State for Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai and Bandi Sanjay Kumar, members of the committee and Union Home Secretary and senior officials.
