Centre issues Revised Norms for Disaster Relief

The Ministry of Home Affairs has issued orders on revision of the items and norms, in respect of the Centrally notified disasters like floods, cyclones, drought, hailstorm, tsunami, earthquake etc.

The revised orders include various aspects of response and preparedness like ex-gratia to the next of kin of persons who may lose their precious lives, ex-gratia in cases of persons suffering severe disability, gratuitous relief for families whose livelihoods may seriously be affected due to disasters, agricultural input subsidy to farmers, replacement of different categories of animals, procurement of search, rescue, evacuation and communication equipment, etc.

The Government of India has permitted upto 10% of allocation under the State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF) to be spent on equipment. A maximum of 5% of SDRF allocation can be spent on capacity building. The State Governments can also use upto 10% of their SDRF allocation on ‘local disasters’, for which the State Executive Committees have to work out the modalities and criteria.

The Government of India has also simplified the procedure for adjustment of available balances under SDRF, while releasing assistance from the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF) in case of severe disasters. The Government has also enabled automatic annual updation of the norms by referencing with the movement of wholesale price index.