Amit Shah addresses the Annual Conference of Relief Commissioners and Disaster Response Forces of States and Union Territories as the Chief Guest in New Delhi

Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Shri Amit Shah addressed the annual conference of Relief Commissioners and Disaster Response Forces of States and Union Territories in New Delhi today as the chief guest. 

On this occasion, Minister of State for Home Affairs, Shri Nityanand Rai, Union Home Secretary Shri Govind Mohan, and several other dignitaries were present. In his address, Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah stated that over the past two years, workshops of all agencies related to relief and disaster management have been brought under one platform, adopting a ‘Whole of Government’ approach to create a think tank to work in a unified manner. 

He said this has helped address shortcomings and prepare the entire country to fight the disasters. Additionally, a multi-stakeholder approach and inter-agency coordination have been effectively achieved. He emphasized that this tradition should be further strengthened. 

Shri Amit Shah said that due to climate change and global warming, the entire world is grappling with disasters today. He said that in the past 10 years, because of the contributions of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), India is moving towards becoming a global leader in the field of disaster management. 

He highlighted that NDMA has done commendable work in policy frameworks, research, disseminating various training materials, developing apps, and overall coordination. He added that NDRF has earned nationwide recognition, built a strong reputation, and gained respect. 

The State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) has also played a significant role in this structure. Shri Shah mentioned that NDRF has done substantial work in training SDRF personnel at par with its own standards.

Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said that whenever the history of India’s disaster response is written, these 10 years of the Modi government will be recorded as a transformative decade. 

He said that in the past 10 years, Modi government has achieved significant milestones in the four areas of capacity building, speed, efficiency, and accuracy in disaster management. He said, not only has our capacity to handle disasters been increased, but it has also been enhanced and extended to the tehsil level. 

Attention has been given to speed, as saving lives during a disaster is of utmost importance. Shri Shah noted that efficiency has been improved through the use of cutting-edge technology and the dedicated approach of disaster response forces. 

Additionally, by providing accurate forecasting and early warnings, society has been made aware and successfully engaged in relief and rescue operations. Shri Amit Shah said that during the Modi government’s tenure, there has been a significant shift in the approach related to disaster management. 

Earlier, the approach was relief-centric, but today, the goal of ‘zero casualty’ has been successfully achieved, and the focus has shifted from relief-centric to a comprehensive and integrated approach. 

He emphasized the importance of anticipating future disasters, conducting advance research, compiling global ideas in this field, and adapting them to suit India’s geographical conditions. Shri Shah noted that the Modi government has transformed efforts from reactive to proactive and increased public participation. 

Now, the central government, state governments, and local units are coming together in an integrated manner to tackle disasters. He added that under Prime Minister Modi’s leadership, efforts to involve society have also been successfully undertaken. 

In the next 10 years, every young person in the country will be prepared to fight disasters with a spirit of service. Union Home Minister said that India has achieved a great deal in the development of early warning systems.

Timely preparedness has been integrated with the calendar, a scientific approach has been evolved for active prevention and mitigation, and we have also achieved significant success in disaster risk reduction. 

He said that by pursuing the goal of ‘Minimum Casualty’, the Modi government has amazed the entire world by achieving the target of ‘Zero Casualty’ in 10 years. He said that in 1999, a super cyclone hit Odisha in which 10,000 people lost their lives, whereas in 2019, during Cyclone Fani in Odisha, only one person died. 

Later, during Cyclone Biparjoy in Gujarat, there were zero casualties not even a single animal died. He said this demonstrates that if local units, the public, the state, the Centre, all departments, scientists, and security personnel work together, great achievements can be attained. 

Shri Shah said that in the last decade, we have made significant efforts for financial empowerment and greatly increased the government’s budget. We have also pursued institutional empowerment deliberately and by design, along with structural empowerment. 

Combining all these, we have also adopted a multidimensional approach as a policy. Shri Amit Shah said that from 2004 to 2014, the budget of the SDRF was ₹38,000 crore, which increased to ₹1.44 lakh crore from 2014 to 2024. 

Similarly, the budget of the NDRF was ₹28,000 crore from 2004 to 2014, which Prime Minister Modi increased to ₹84,000 crore today. Overall, we have nearly tripled the total budget from ₹66,000 crore to ₹2 lakh crore. 

Shri Shah said that this financial empowerment has been highly successful in bringing all our efforts to the village level. He said that in the 15th Finance Commission, compared to the 14th Commission, we have increased the budget fourfold. 

For the first time, we have also created a National Disaster Risk Management Fund at the national level with ₹68,000 crore. Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said that following this conference, every Relief Commissioner should prepare a District Disaster Management Plan for their districts in their state within 90 days, because until a district has its disaster management plan in place, we cannot respond swiftly in the face of a disaster. 

He said that a lightning action plan also needs to be formulated soon. The Home Minister noted that several states have yet to implement the Incident Response System. He said that the Government of India has allocated a good budget for the expansion and modernization of fire services as well. 

NDMA has issued 38 guidelines and 34 Standard Operating Procedures (SoPs) on cross-cutting areas, and it is important that these reach the district level. He said that a strong action plan should also be developed to tackle heat waves, and its timetable should be based on the actual experience of heat conditions. 

Shri Shah mentioned that the Government of India has also formulated several plans for the future. He said that we want to make inter-state mock drills an annual program, and this would not be possible without the cooperation of the states. 

We also want to link Start-up India with the development of disaster relief technology. We have undertaken the task of training one lakh community volunteers, 20 percent of whom are women. Alongside this, we have launched the Yuva Aapda Mitra (Young Disaster Friends) scheme with an investment of ₹470 crore.

Shri Amit Shah said that in the past 10 years of the Modi government, we have achieved several milestones in the field of disaster management. In 2018-19, we also announced the Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar (Disaster Management Award). 

He said that every state should send nominations for this. Shri Shah stated that for National Cyclone Risk Mitigation, we have worked successfully in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. The NDRF has also been strengthened its strength has increased from 8 battalions in 2006 to 16 battalions today. 

In addition, the NDMA has also initiated night-time mock drills in Leh-Ladakh. Union Home Minister said that in the coming days, we will move forward with a zero-casualty approach. He stated that while we are fully prepared to tackle disasters, we also need to address their root causes. 

Shri Shah said that climate change and global warming are the primary causes of disasters, and therefore, we must move forward with environmental conservation as a core component. He said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, India has done remarkable work for environmental conservation over the past 11 years. 

Prime Minister Modi has presented a comprehensive vision before the country and also introduced the Mission LiFE to the world, proposed the creation of Pro-Planet People, and led the establishment of the International Solar Alliance and the Global Biofuel Alliance. 

In the field of disaster management, Prime Minister Modi outlined a 10-point agenda for disaster risk reduction, established the CDRI (Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure), and formed a task force on disaster risk reduction under the G-20. 

He emphasized that without environmental conservation, it is impossible to completely avoid disasters, and if we do not care for the environment, we will not be able to prevent the disasters.