SC: Why not treat drought as disaster?

With around 10 states reeling under drought, the Supreme Court has asked the Centre why the natural calamity could not be brought under the Disaster Management Act to release funds for the welfare of affected families. The court mooted the idea after noting that many states had not declared drought.

What the centre says?

The Centre informed the court that its hands were tied and it could not force states to declare a drought as the matter came within states’ domain. Also, there is no statute to regulate declaration of drought.

• The centre says, “The onus of declaring drought rests entirely with the State governments, and it has only a limited role — of providing funds and putting in place a monitoring system.”

What the Court says?

The court pointed out that drought could be covered under the Disaster Management Act. Drought was not expressly mentioned in the Disaster Management Act, but it can be covered under loss of crops.

Way ahead:

The court has sought information on the number of people and districts affected by drought, as well as the budgetary allocation for and expenditure of national and state disaster relief funds. The Centre has assured that it would place the information before the court on the next hearing.

DM Act:

The Disaster Management Act, 2005 came into force in India in January 2006. The Act extends to the whole of India. The Act provides for “the effective management of disasters and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.”

• The Act calls for the establishment of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), with the Prime Minister of India as chairperson.
• The Act enjoins the Central Government to Constitute a National Executive Committee(NEC) to assist the National Authority.
• All State Governments are mandated to establish a State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA).