Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has issued orders on revision norms with respect of the Centrally notified disasters. These disasters include tsunami, earthquake, floods, cyclones, drought, hailstorm, etc.
Facts about revised norms
- Norms related to various aspects of response and preparedness like ex-gratia to the kin’s in case of loss of lives, disability and livelihoods have been revised.
- Permitted State governments to use upto 10% of allocation of the State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF) on equipment. On capacity building, maximum of 5% of SDRF allocation can be spent.
- State Governments also can use upto 10% of their SDRF allocation on local disasters. In this case the State Executive Committees have to work out the criteria and modalities.
- Procedure for adjustment of available balances under SDRF is simplified while releasing assistance from the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF) in case of severe disasters.
- Automatic annual updation of the norms by reference with the movement of wholesale price index (WPI) is also enabled.