Analyze the concerns posed by the Disaster Management (Amendment) Bill, 2024, and its implications on cooperative federalism and climate-induced disasters in India.
Kartavya Desk Staff
Topic: Disaster Management
Topic: Disaster Management
Q6. Analyze the concerns posed by the Disaster Management (Amendment) Bill, 2024, and its implications on cooperative federalism and climate-induced disasters in India. (150 words)
Difficulty level: Moderate
Reference: The Hindu
Why the Question: The article highlights the issues of centralization in the Disaster Management (Amendment) Bill, 2024, and its adverse effects on cooperative federalism, especially in managing climate-induced disasters. The Bill further centralizes disaster management without adequately addressing financial devolution to States, leaving them vulnerable during disaster response. Key Demand of the Question: Examine the centralization tendencies in the proposed Bill and their impact on State-Centre relations, cooperative federalism, and the handling of climate-induced disasters like heatwaves. Structure of the Answer: Introduction: Briefly introduce the Disaster Management (Amendment) Bill, 2024, and its centralization of disaster management functions, highlighting the challenges to cooperative federalism. Body: Centralization Concerns: The Bill strengthens the top-down approach, complicating disaster response. Delays in disaster relief funds, affecting State-level disaster preparedness. Financial control remaining concentrated with the Centre, undermining State autonomy. Implications on Cooperative Federalism: Strains State-Centre relations due to delays in fund disbursement and decision-making. Weakens the spirit of cooperative federalism in disaster management, limiting local adaptive responses. Climate-Induced Disasters: The Bill’s narrow disaster definition excludes emerging climate challenges like heatwaves. Global trends support the recognition of heatwaves as disasters, yet the Bill remains static. Conclusion: Addressing the challenges posed by the Bill requires revisiting the Centre-State power dynamics and expanding the definition of disasters to incorporate climate-induced phenomena.
Why the Question: The article highlights the issues of centralization in the Disaster Management (Amendment) Bill, 2024, and its adverse effects on cooperative federalism, especially in managing climate-induced disasters. The Bill further centralizes disaster management without adequately addressing financial devolution to States, leaving them vulnerable during disaster response.
Key Demand of the Question: Examine the centralization tendencies in the proposed Bill and their impact on State-Centre relations, cooperative federalism, and the handling of climate-induced disasters like heatwaves.
Structure of the Answer:
Introduction: Briefly introduce the Disaster Management (Amendment) Bill, 2024, and its centralization of disaster management functions, highlighting the challenges to cooperative federalism.
• Centralization Concerns:
• The Bill strengthens the top-down approach, complicating disaster response.
• Delays in disaster relief funds, affecting State-level disaster preparedness.
• Financial control remaining concentrated with the Centre, undermining State autonomy.
• Implications on Cooperative Federalism:
• Strains State-Centre relations due to delays in fund disbursement and decision-making.
• Weakens the spirit of cooperative federalism in disaster management, limiting local adaptive responses.
• Climate-Induced Disasters:
• The Bill’s narrow disaster definition excludes emerging climate challenges like heatwaves.
• Global trends support the recognition of heatwaves as disasters, yet the Bill remains static.
Conclusion: Addressing the challenges posed by the Bill requires revisiting the Centre-State power dynamics and expanding the definition of disasters to incorporate climate-induced phenomena.