CDS (I) 2021 General Knowledge · Question 34 of 120

Correct — A, the Prime Minister. The Disaster Management Act, 2005 says it in terms. Section 3(2) provides that the National Authority shall consist of a Chairperson and not more than nine other members, and that unless the rules otherwise provide it shall consist of '(a) the Prime Minister of India, who shall be the Chairperson of the National Authority, ex officio; (b) other members, not exceeding nine, to be nominated by the Chairperson'. The Chairperson may designate one of those nominated members as Vice-Chairperson, and it is the Vice-Chairperson who runs the Authority day to day and presides when the Prime Minister cannot attend. So the Prime Minister heads it by force of statute, not by convention.

• (b)the Home Minister. — The near-miss that catches most people. The NDMA falls under the administrative control of the Ministry of Home Affairs, which is the nodal ministry for disaster management — but the Ministry is not the Chairperson, and the Act names the Prime Minister.
• (c)the President. — The President heads no executive authority of this kind. The Act builds its structure on the political executive, and the head of the National Authority is the head of government, not the head of state.
• (d)the Health Minister. — Disaster management under the 2005 Act is far wider than health — it covers cyclones, floods, earthquakes, landslides and industrial accidents — and health is one participating ministry among many.

The Disaster Management Act, 2005 builds a three-tier structure with a political head at each level. The National Disaster Management Authority is chaired ex officio by the Prime Minister; a State Disaster Management Authority is chaired by the Chief Minister; a District Disaster Management Authority is chaired by the District Collector or Magistrate, with the elected head of the district council as co-chair. Alongside these sit the National Executive Committee of secretaries, which does the implementing work, the National Institute of Disaster Management for training, and the National Disaster Response Force for response.

The pattern to hold is simple and it repeats: the Act puts the elected head of government at the top of each tier, because disaster management cuts across every department and only that office can direct all of them. Once the pattern is in place, the Home Minister distractor stops working — the Ministry of Home Affairs is the nodal ministry, and 'nodal ministry' is a different fact from 'chairperson'. Note that the Act's wording leaves a door open: section 3(2) says 'unless the rules otherwise provide', so the Prime Ministerial chairmanship is the default composition rather than an unamendable rule, and no rules have displaced it. One present-day addition to the 2021 picture: an amending Bill cleared both Houses of Parliament by 27 March 2025, giving statutory recognition to the National Crisis Management Committee, moving the preparation of disaster management plans from the executive committees to the national and State authorities themselves, and allowing States to set up Urban Disaster Management Authorities and their own response forces. It leaves the Prime Minister's ex officio chairmanship untouched.

• Section 3(2)(a) of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 makes the Prime Minister the Chairperson of the National Disaster Management Authority, ex officio.
• The Authority may have not more than nine other members, nominated by the Chairperson, one of whom may be designated Vice-Chairperson.
• The NDMA is under the administrative control of the Ministry of Home Affairs, which is the nodal ministry for disaster management.
• A State Disaster Management Authority is chaired by the Chief Minister and a District Disaster Management Authority by the District Collector or Magistrate.
• The Act also created the National Executive Committee of secretaries, the National Institute of Disaster Management and the National Disaster Response Force.

• Answering with the nodal ministry instead of the statutory chairperson; Home Affairs is the ministry, the Prime Minister is the chair.
• Assuming the Vice-Chairperson is an office filled by the Act itself; the Chairperson designates one of the nominated members.
• Carrying the national pattern down without checking — the district tier is chaired by the Collector, an official, not by a minister.

Asked as a bare who-heads-it question, or as a two-statement item pairing the chairperson of the NDMA with the ministry under which it functions.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, a State Disaster Management Authority is chaired by

  • (a)the Governor of the State
  • (b)the Chief Minister of the State
  • (c)the Chief Secretary of the State
  • (d)the State Home Minister

  Answer(b) the Chief Minister of the State — the Act places the elected head of government at the head of the national and State tiers alike.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The National Disaster Management Authority functions under the administrative control of which Union Ministry?

  • (a)Ministry of Defence
  • (b)Ministry of Home Affairs
  • (c)Ministry of Earth Sciences
  • (d)Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change

  Answer(b) Ministry of Home Affairs — the nodal ministry for disaster management, even though the Authority is chaired by the Prime Minister.