New Delhi [India], June 16 : Union Home Minister Amit Shah inaugurated the Annual Conference of the Relief Commissioners and Disaster Response Forces here in the national capital on Monday.
Addressing the event as the chief guest, Shah stated that over the past two years, workshops of all agencies related to relief and disaster management have been brought under one platform, adopting a 'Whole of Government' approach to create a think tank to work in a unified manner.
According to a release from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Shah said this has helped address shortcomings and prepare the entire country to fight the disasters. Additionally, a multi-stakeholder approach and inter-agency coordination have been effectively achieved. He emphasised that this tradition should be further strengthened.
He said that due to climate change and global warming, the entire world is grappling with disasters today.
"In the past 10 years, because of the contributions of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), India is moving towards becoming a global leader in the field of disaster management," he said.
The Union Home Minister also highlighted that NDMA has done commendable work in policy frameworks, research, disseminating various training materials, developing apps, and overall coordination. He added that NDRF has earned nationwide recognition, built a strong reputation, and gained respect. The State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) has also played a significant role in this structure.
Shah mentioned that NDRF has done substantial work in training SDRF personnel at par with its own standards.
He said that whenever the history of India's disaster response is written, these 10 years of the Modi government will be recorded as a transformative decade.
"In the past 10 years, the Modi government has achieved significant milestones in the four areas of capacity building, speed, efficiency, and accuracy in disaster management. Not only has our capacity to handle disasters increased, but it has also been enhanced and extended to the tehsil level. Attention has been given to speed, as saving lives during a disaster is of utmost importance," Shah said.
Shah noted that efficiency has been improved through the use of cutting-edge technology and the dedicated approach of disaster response forces. Additionally, by providing accurate forecasting and early warnings, society has been made aware and successfully engaged in relief and rescue operations.
During the Modi government's tenure, there has been a significant shift in the approach related to disaster management. Earlier, the approach was relief-centric, but today, the goal of 'zero casualty' has been successfully achieved, and the focus has shifted from relief-centric to a comprehensive and integrated approach," he said.
He emphasised the importance of anticipating future disasters, conducting advanced research, compiling global ideas in this field, and adapting them to suit India's geographical conditions.
He noted that the Modi government has transformed efforts from reactive to proactive and increased public participation. Now, the central government, state governments, and local units are working together to tackle disasters.
"Under Prime Minister Modi's leadership, efforts to involve society have also been successfully undertaken. In the next 10 years, every young person in the country will be prepared to fight disasters with a spirit of service," he said.
Shah further said that India has achieved a great deal in the development of early warning systems. Timely preparedness has been integrated with the calendar, a scientific approach has been evolved for active prevention and mitigation, and we have also achieved significant success in disaster risk reduction.
"By pursuing the goal of 'Minimum Casualty', the Modi government has amazed the entire world by achieving the target of 'Zero Casualty' in 10 years. In 1999, a super cyclone hit Odisha, in which 10,000 people lost their lives, whereas in 2019, during Cyclone Fani in Odisha, only one person died. Later, there were zero casualties during Cyclone Biparjoy in Gujarat--not even a single animal died. This demonstrates that if local units, the public, the state, the Centre, all departments, scientists, and security personnel work together, great achievements can be attained," he said.
Shah said that in the last decade, we have made significant efforts for financial empowerment and greatly increased the government's budget. We have also pursued institutional empowerment deliberately and by design, along with structural empowerment. Combining all these, we have also adopted a multidimensional approach as a policy.
Amit Shah said that the SDRF's budget was Rs 38,000 crore from 2004 to 2014, which increased to Rs 1.44 lakh crore from 2014 to 2024. Similarly, the NDRF's budget was Rs 28,000 crore from 2004 to 2014, which Prime Minister Modi increased to Rs 84,000 crore today. Overall, we have nearly tripled the total budget from Rs 66,000 crore to Rs 2 lakh crore.
"This financial empowerment has been highly successful in bringing all our efforts to the village level. In the 15th Finance Commission, compared to the 14th Commission, we have increased the budget fourfold. For the first time, we have also created a National Disaster Risk Management Fund at the national level with Rs 68,000 crore," he said.
Shah further said that following this conference, every Relief Commissioner should prepare a District Disaster Management Plan for their districts in their state within 90 days. Until a district has its disaster management plan in place, we cannot respond swiftly in the face of a disaster. He added that a lightning action plan also needs to be formulated soon.
He also noted that several states have yet to implement the Incident Response System. "The Government of India has allocated a good budget for expanding and modernising fire services. NDMA has issued 38 guidelines and 34 Standard Operating Procedures (SoPs) on cross-cutting areas, and it is important that these reach the district level," he said.
Shah said that a strong action plan should also be developed to tackle heat waves, and its timetable should be based on the actual experience of heat conditions. He mentioned that the Government of India has also formulated several plans for the future.
The Union Home Minister further said that we want to make inter-state mock drills an annual program, which would not be possible without the cooperation of the states. "We also want to link Start-up India with the development of disaster relief technology. We have trained one lakh community volunteers, 20 per cent of whom are women. Alongside this, we have launched the Yuva Aapda Mitra (Young Disaster Friends) scheme with an investment of Rs 470 crore," he said.
Amit Shah said that in the past 10 years of the Modi government, we have achieved several milestones in disaster management. In 2018-19, he said we also announced the Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar (Disaster Management Award), adding that every state should send nominations for this.
Shah said, "We have worked successfully in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh on national cyclone risk mitigation. The NDRF has also been strengthened--its strength has increased from 8 battalions in 2006 to 16 battalions today. In addition, the NDMA has initiated night-time mock drills in Leh-Ladakh."
He said we will move forward with a zero-casualty approach in the coming days. He stated that while we are fully prepared to tackle disasters, we also need to address their root causes.
Shah said that climate change and global warming are the primary causes of disasters, and therefore, we must move forward with environmental conservation as a core component.
"Under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, India has done remarkable work for environmental conservation over the past 11 years. Prime Minister Modi presented a comprehensive vision before the country and introduced the Mission LiFE to the world, proposed the creation of Pro-Planet People, and led the establishment of the International Solar Alliance and the Global Biofuel Alliance," he said.
He further said that in the field of disaster management, Prime Minister Modi outlined a 10-point agenda for disaster risk reduction, established the CDRI (Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure), and formed a task force on disaster risk reduction under the G-20.
Shah emphasised that without environmental conservation, it is impossible to avoid disasters completely, and if we do not care for the environment, we will not be able to prevent disasters.
Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai, Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan, and several other dignitaries were also present.