National Legislation and Coordination MechanismIndia has a Federal Structure of Government with the Central Government in Delhi and 29 Provincial/State GovernmentsUnder The Indian Constitution there is a clear division of responsibilities between the Federal and the State Governments

In this overall framework of Government two important division of powers is important to understand :

(a) Issues such as maintenance of law and Order, Management of local development problems or creation of infrastructure and Response, Relief and Management of DISASTER is the responsibility of the State/Provincial Governments.

(b) The bulk of the powers of taxation and financial resource mobilization is with the Central/ Federal Government. These resources are shared between the Central and State Governments by an agreed formula which is reviewed every five years.

While the administrative responsibilities are with the ProvincialGovernments, additional resources are made available to local governments to make up the shortfall as and when there is a crisis.Therefore it is important to have a background of this government Structure, to understand the coordination in a crisis.

Political Commitment StructureThe Political Structure Responsible for Governance and response is as follows :

Prime Minister

• • Chief Ministers of the States•

• Mayors and Elected Heads of District Bodies

• Heads of Village CommunitiesThe Political Commitment for responding to Disaster flows top down and bottom up.This is important to keep in view in understanding the coordination mechanism

• The governance structure from federal to state/provincial government is Cabinet Secretary & Secretaries to Ministries of the Government of India. Chief Secretary & Secretary to the Minister.

• Divisional Commissioner, District Magistrate, Deputy Commissioner.

Governance Response

Cabinet Secretary and Secretaries of the Federal Govt

Governance Response Mechanism

Cabinet Secretary and Secretaries of Federal Government

Chief Secretary and Secretaries of State Government

Divisional Commissioners

Deputy Commissioners/ District Magistrates

Heads of Police, Health Dept, Agriculture, Revenue etc

Sub-District and field level officers

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Field Level coordination Mechanism

• The District Magistrate (DM) is the fulcrum of any response & relief system.

• The DM enjoys powers under about 100 acts and has been the traditional fulcrum of governance.

• The orders of the DM have the force of law & therefore can summon manpower from the revenue, the police, health and all other departments of the state & Central Governments located in his district.

• In an extreme situation he has the capacity to remove any person/groups or place them under arrest in case there is danger to public safety.

Response & Relief in Drought

• Incase of Drought the information is available to the DM from local functionaries and NMHSs. This is now being supplemented with more technical inputs from the Deptt of Science and Technology.

• In coordination with the Divisional Commissioner and the Chief Secretary relief measures are initiated for making available essential items such as foodgrains, relief works for employment and allocation of additional irrigation water etc.

• Incase the resources of the State Government are inadequate, these are supplemented by the Cabinet Secretary and his team.

• Political Coordination is also maintained between the local, state and federal governments

Response and Relief in Flood

• There exists an institutional memory in the DMs office about previous flood events and the areas inundated.

• Events of heavy rainfall likely to cause flooding are reported by the NMHSs through the Ministry of Interior to the State Home department.

• This information is transmitted to the DMs and the irrigation department to observe water levels at various points and at barrages.

• In this case a coordination mechanism is maintained by neighboring states so that water releases from dams are coordinated.

• For relief additional resources such as boats etc are provided to the DMs through the State government and incase inadequate from army supplies.

• Similarly relief material is coordinated by the DMs where relief camps are established

Coordination in case of Cyclone

• The NMHSs play an important role in issuing warnings for cyclones.

• Tracking is done continuously and intensively 72 hours prior to landfall. All communications are provided through the Ministry of Home in Federal and State Government.

• Warnings are issued through radio and television and also through the police networks.

• Now similar systems have been perfected to provide warning in multiple languages on cell phones.

• System of relief and response remains similar

Coordination Mechanism and Legislation

• New legislation has been passed for creating a National Disaster Management Authority

• The Authority has been entrusted with the job of creating contingency plans for disaster management in all departments of the Government

• While the coordination mechanism will remain with the government in time of crisis, the Authority will be involved in creating preparedness.

• While the national legislation initially envisaged a far greater role for the Authority, experience shows that existing systems of governance are adequate in law and structure to meet the contingencies.