CDS (II) 2020 General Knowledge · Question 48 of 120

Correct — B, Home Affairs. The National Disaster Management Authority functions under the Ministry of Home Affairs, and it is chaired by the Prime Minister. It was set up by the Disaster Management Act enacted on 23 December 2005, which built a three-tier structure: the NDMA at the Centre, a State Disaster Management Authority chaired by the Chief Minister in each state, and a District Disaster Management Authority in each district. The same Act created the National Disaster Response Force as a dedicated response force and the National Institute of Disaster Management for training and research. Home Affairs is the right ministry because disaster response draws on police, paramilitary and civil administration, all of which it controls.

• (a)Environment, Forest and Climate Change — The tempting choice, because disasters sound environmental. That ministry handles forests, wildlife, pollution control and climate negotiations — not the machinery of emergency response.
• (c)Commerce and Industry — Deals with trade policy, exports, industrial promotion and intellectual property. It has no role in disaster management at all.
• (d)Finance — Funds disaster relief through the National and State Disaster Response Funds on the Finance Commission's recommendations, but funding a function is not administering it.

India's disaster machinery was rebuilt after the 1999 Odisha super cyclone, the 2001 Bhuj earthquake and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, moving from relief after the event to preparedness and mitigation before it. The Disaster Management Act of 2005 is the legal spine. It defines a disaster, creates authorities at three levels, provides for plans at each level, and sets up a response force and a training institute.

The way to place any Indian body is to ask which ministry owns the people who would actually do the work. For a flood or an earthquake that means the police, the paramilitary forces and the district administration, and all of those sit with Home Affairs. The same reasoning places the National Investigation Agency, the Central Armed Police Forces and the Registrar General and Census Commissioner. Note the pairing that examiners like: the NDMA sits under Home Affairs but is chaired by the Prime Minister, so the ministry and the chair are different answers to different questions.

• The NDMA functions under the Ministry of Home Affairs and is chaired by the Prime Minister.
• It was established by the Disaster Management Act enacted on 23 December 2005.
• State Disaster Management Authorities are chaired by Chief Ministers; District Disaster Management Authorities operate at district level.
• The Act also created the National Disaster Response Force and the National Institute of Disaster Management.
• Relief funding runs through the National and State Disaster Response Funds, on Finance Commission recommendations.

• Placing the NDMA under the Environment Ministry because disasters feel like an environmental subject.
• Confusing who chairs the body with which ministry it sits under.
• Mixing up the NDMA, which plans and directs, with the NDRF, which responds on the ground.

As a body-to-ministry pick like this one, as a who-heads-it question, or through the structure created by the 2005 Act.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The National Disaster Management Authority is chaired by

  • (a)the Prime Minister
  • (b)the Home Minister
  • (c)the Cabinet Secretary
  • (d)the Vice-President

  Answer(a) the Prime Minister — the state authorities are chaired by Chief Ministers on the same pattern.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The National Disaster Response Force was constituted under which one of the following?

  • (a)Disaster Management Act, 2005
  • (b)Civil Defence Act, 1968
  • (c)Environment (Protection) Act, 1986
  • (d)National Security Act, 1980

  Answer(a) Disaster Management Act, 2005 — the same Act created the NDMA and the National Institute of Disaster Management.