MPPSC 2025 Prelims Paper-I · Question 93 of 100

Correct — A, Nagpur. The National Disaster Response Force Academy was set up at Nagpur, Maharashtra: the Union Government notified its creation in February 2016 and the Academy was established in 2018, functioning from the campus of the National Civil Defence College at Nagpur while its own campus is built. It is the apex training institution for NDRF and State Disaster Response Force personnel, civil defence volunteers and responders from neighbouring countries, running courses in collapsed-structure search and rescue, medical first response, flood and deep-diving rescue, mountain and landslide rescue and CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear) emergencies.

• (b)Kanpur — Kanpur is an industrial and educational centre — IIT Kanpur, defence and ordnance manufacturing — but it hosts no national disaster-response training academy.
• (c)Bharatpur — Bharatpur in Rajasthan is known for Keoladeo National Park, a Ramsar wetland and UNESCO World Heritage site. It has no NDRF Academy.
• (d)Shimla — Shimla is the capital of Himachal Pradesh and home to the Indian Institute of Advanced Study; India's disaster-response training apex is not based there.

The NDRF is a specialist, multi-disciplinary response force raised under the Disaster Management Act, 2005. Its battalions are deputed from the central armed police forces, it works under the general superintendence and direction of the National Disaster Management Authority, and it sits administratively under the Ministry of Home Affairs. Three institutions must be kept apart: the NDMA in New Delhi (policy and guidelines, chaired by the Prime Minister), the National Institute of Disaster Management in New Delhi (research, documentation and capacity building) and the NDRF Academy at Nagpur (hands-on responder training).

Nagpur was not a random choice. The city already hosted the National Civil Defence College, which has trained civil-defence and emergency-relief personnel since the late 1950s, and Nagpur's near-central position on the Indian map makes it reachable from every state — an advantage for an academy that has to bring in trainees from all the SDRFs. So the Academy was raised on top of an existing training ecosystem rather than on a fresh site.

• NDRF Academy — Nagpur, Maharashtra; announced in 2016 and established in 2018, operating from the National Civil Defence College campus while its own campus is developed
• It trains NDRF and State Disaster Response Force battalions, civil defence volunteers and disaster responders from SAARC and neighbouring countries
• Core courses: Collapsed Structure Search & Rescue (CSSR), Medical First Responder (MFR), flood and deep-diving rescue, mountain and landslide rescue, and CBRN emergencies
• Institutional map: NDMA (New Delhi) sets policy, NIDM (New Delhi) does research and capacity building, the NDRF Academy (Nagpur) trains responders
• The NDRF itself was constituted under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, from battalions of the central armed police forces

• Mixing the NDRF Academy (Nagpur) with the National Institute of Disaster Management (New Delhi)
• Assuming the NDRF is a defence force — its battalions come from the central armed police forces under the Ministry of Home Affairs
• Confusing NDRF the force with the National Disaster Response Fund, which shares the abbreviation but is a financing mechanism

MPPSC asks where an institution sits — 'in which city/state was X established'; UPSC asks the statutory structure instead: which Act created a body, who chairs it, what it can direct.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) was constituted under which law?

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

  Answer(a) Disaster Management Act, 2005 — the same Act that created the NDMA and the NIDM.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) is located at:

  • (a)Nagpur
  • (b)New Delhi
  • (c)Pune
  • (d)Hyderabad

  Answer(b) New Delhi — NIDM handles training, research and documentation; the NDRF Academy at Nagpur handles field response training.