and the setting up of a transparent
mechanism of ensuring that the
disaster affected people receive
the relief entitlements which are
intended for them have to be
necessarily integral components of
a good governance and responsive
administration at the district, state
and national levels. With the good
practice examples of deployment of
information technology innovations
like biometrics and smart cards
in humanitarian assistance in
recent disasters in some of the
countries affected by disasters,
our administrative machinery
has to explore ways of ensuring
efficiency and effectiveness in the
delivery of services, minimising
inordinate delays, red tape and
extraneous pressures of excluding
real victims and accommodating
false claimants. Community
Based Organisations and NonGovernmental Organisations can
play the role of watchdogs in
creating a level playing field
for the victims affected by
disasters. Wherever expedient
and unavoidable, justice has to
be ensured by resorting to the
instruments of good governance
like Right to Information and
legal options like Public Interest
Litigation. The recent examples
from Nepal, Thailand and China of
public functionaries being legally
challenged for their alleged acts of
commission and omission indicate
that fixing the accountability for
the consequences of inaction is
increasingly becoming a strong
feature of civic action for legal
remediation in disaster affected
areas.
YOJANA March 2012
Weak Compliance of Policies
The National Policy for Disaster
Management approved by the
Cabinet and released by the Prime
Minister of India has to be seen
as a statement of intent by the
Government of India in working
towards a disaster resilient India.
As envisaged in the Disaster
Management Act 2005, several
formidable Guidelines have
been prepared by the National
Disaster Management Authority
in consultation with the best
domain experts in the country
with suggested corrective action
to address the critical gaps which
are responsible for the weaknesses
in the management of disasters
in our country. However, the
follow up action expected from
the nodal agencies in preparing
Plans to address these aspects
of stre