How does a State raise disaster relief fund in India — based on Kerala Flooding.
One month back, the State of Kerala situated in the southern part of India saw the most tragic flooding situation in nearly a century. In July 2018, the unusual monsoon brought heavy rainfall in Kerala. Heavily affected regions like Idukki district received up to 89% more than normal annual rainfall level. Due to such continuous heavy rains in catchment areas, the dams in Kerala also filled up to their maximum capacity. This led to an unprecedented situation where the Government of Kerala was forced to open 33 dams at once. This escalated the heavy rain into a large scale flooding situation affecting major cities like Aluva, Chenganoor and many towns lying near to the major rivers — Periyar and Pampa. Kerala was in a continued state of emergency for almost two months.
The flooding disaster now declared as the ‘calamity of rare severity’ displaced more than one million people overnight and claimed lives of more than 500 people. Several people have lost their houses, businesses, land, agriculture, domestic animals and the agony to start over a new life is excruciating. The State also has to rebuild roads since the disaster has destroyed an estimated 20,000 km of roads, several bridges, public buildings, schools etc in the flooding and landslides during the disaster. It is estimated that the floods affected one-sixth of the total population of Kerala. The Chief Minister of Kerala State initially stated that, the State incurred around 8000 crores of damage. However by the end of August 2018, it has escalated to estimated damages around 20,000 crores. How can Kerala State generate such a huge amount to survive the Flood disaster?
Disaster Relief Mechanism in India — Is it Centre to State or Centre with State ?
To understand the Disaster relief Fund generation in India, one need to understand the basic federal structure of government in India. This means that there is two tier governance, i.e, at National level and at State level. The power to legislate on various issues is again divided into Union list , State list and Concurrent List in the Constitution of India; wherein the issues under Union list is legislated only by the Centre (armed forces, foreign affairs), the issues in State list by the State governments (Police force, agriculture) and in case of concurrent issues (Forest, Education etc) both State and Centre can legislate
Surprisingly, an important subject like Disaster management is not added to any of the three lists. Yet, the National level legislative system — the parliament by default, has the competence to legislate on this subject. This is because the Centre has the residuary powers to legislate on any matters excluded in the Constitutional lists.
However, the primary responsibility for managing disaster rests with the State Governments of the location where the disaster has occurred. This is reiterated in various policy documents including 2016 National Disaster Management Plan. If the State and Central Government does not come together, the emergency response mechanism to mitigating the issue including compensation to loss/damage of properties will fall apart.

Fund Generation for Immediate Disaster Response
Targeting immediate relief measures, State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) has been formed under Disaster Management Act 2005. SDRF is the primary fund available with different States in India for disaster response for providing immediate relief to the victims of cyclone, drought, earthquake, fire, flood, tsunami, hailstorm, landslide, avalanche, cloud burst, pest attack, and frost and cold wave. The central government contributes 75 per cent for general category states and 90 per cent for special category states of the assessed SDRF annually. The remaining percent has to be contributed by the State Governments.
NDRF fund is similar to SDRF, but is managed solely by the Central Government for meeting the supplementary expenses for States in emergency response, relief and rehabilitation. Moreover, the deploying of military personnel for rescue operations, providing emergency food relief are also considered as part of emergency relief funding system released by the Centre. Further, Foreign aid from NRIs, PIOs and international entities such as foundations are currently accepted, as stated by the Ministry of External Affairs.
For the Kerala floods, the Prime minister of India has pledged to provide 600 crores from NDRF fund and the Central government has stated that additional funding may be provided after assessment from NDRF. The Central Government has so far released Rs.320 crores which included the Kerala SDRF allocated for 2018–19' year and an additional 100 crores from NDRF.
Fund Generation for Disaster Mitigation
For the mitigation and rebuilding stage, separate funds namely National Disaster Mitigation Fund (NDMF)and State Disaster Mitigation Fund (SDMF) have to be formed as per the Disaster Management Act,2005 and National Disaster Management Plan, 2016. However,they have not been created so far.
The respective minister of Parliament has informed in 2016 that NDMF will not be created since there are other projects for the purpose of mitigation which is being served by the existing Centrally Sponsored Schemes. However, so far, there is no coordinated effort in utitlising the various schemes for disaster mitigation by the Centre. This was questioned by The State of Tamil Nadu has in 2017, pointing out the ineffectiveness of NDRF fund and asked for creating the a Mitigation Fund as the so called schemes does not cover all calamities.
Can India raise Aid from Foreign government in the face of disaster relief?
The controversies over the same arose as the willingness of United Arabs Emirates to give 700 crores (USD 100 million) to Government of Kerala for disaster relief; was rejected. The Government of Kerala has a direct amicable foreign relations with UAE due to the high number of Kerala expatriates in Gulf countries . Even though, the Prime Minister initially applauded the offer, later on, the Ministry of External Affairs rejected it saying that it was against India’s foreign policy. Maldives, Qatar and Thailand have also offered monetary support to Kerala State.
The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 (FCRA) lays downs the regulations in accepting and utilizing foreign contributions and foreign hospitality. According to the Act, the Foreign Source includes the Government of any foreign country or territory and any agency of such government.
India had accepted in the past aid from foreign governments — for the Uttarkashi earthquake (1991), Latur earthquake (1993), Gujarat earthquake (2001), Bengal cyclone (2002) and Bihar floods (July 2004). However, in the last 15 years, it has refused aid from Russia, the US and Japan for the Uttarakhand floods (2013), the Kashmir earthquake in 2005 and Kashmir floods (2014) due to change in “foreign policy” introduced by the then central government — UPA — I. However, this is not an imperative policy or a guideline but a mere political articulate of the then Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh.

Political Unwillingness
The current BJP led Government has also decided to follow the same policy and not to accept bilateral financial assistance from any foreign government. As the Logical Indian article says, the rejection to financial aid from foreign government is steeped in proclamation in country’s self-worth. It is also well known that international aid usually comes with stringent conditions and compliance mechanisms. As India aims to be the Super power, the idea to comply aid conditions does not also seem feasible! This policy is now also being politicised between the UPA parties and the now ruling BJP Government — as “who started the policy”debate spreads.
In the midst of such political arguments, we have to remember the relevance of The 2016 National Disaster Management Plan which states: “…if the national government of another country voluntarily offers assistance as a goodwill gesture in solidarity with the disaster victims, the Central Government may accept the offer.” Here, the wording “may” is quite important. The political willingness of the Central Government becomes the crux of the matter.
The plan also includes accepting Multilateral Assistance through UN Agencies and international NGOs providing humanitarian assistance to people in the affected area in coordination with the relevant Central Ministries / Departments and the State Government as per applicable norms and protocols.
Can the Indian judicial system interfere in order to accept aid from Foreign Government?
It is understood that writ petitions have been filed at Supreme Court of India to reconsider the rejection of foreign aid to State of Kerala. However, it is unlikely to see an Order supporting the foreign aid request. The Indian Courts have addressed similar questions in various cases, often while dealing with petitions filed against the Government, seeking strict enforcement and compliance of these Government policies as a matter of right and held that guidelines or executive instructions which are not statutory in character or under some provision of the Constitution, are not ‘laws’, and not judicially enforceable.
Beyond the politicization of the issue, there is a need to evolve practical and sensible guidelines for receiving foreign aid by the Government of India, in the face of any unprecedented disaster.
Taking Loans from International Organisations
Taking loans from international organisations like The World Bank, ADB are part and parcel of the development projects of India. The World Bank has also provided financial assistance for Disaster Recovery Projects in India. For instance, the Disaster Recovery Projects in Uttarakhand , Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir received funding amounting upto USD 250 million for each project. After 2017, financially sound State government entities are allowed to borrow directly from bilateral ODA (Official Development Assistance) partners for implementation of vital infrastructure projects. They are given the counter guarantee of the Central Government for issuance of loan. Now the State of Kerala is also looking at the possibility to raise a World Bank loan to rebuild the public infrastructure damaged during the flood disaster. Whether a world bank loan is an ideal remedy is a different discussion.
The New Campaigns in Disaster Relief Fund Generation in Kerala

It is clear that the State governments are hugely dependent on the Central Government in sanctioning and receiving the flood relief aid whether it’s release of money from SDRF or NDRF for immediate response. Also, non formation of Mitigation funds in India shows the lack of preparedness for disaster aftermaths in India.While the Union government has the control over the acceptance of multilateral assistance and foreign aid, the new ideas of generating relief fund to recreate the State by the citizens is worth noting!
The Government of Kerala acted promptly in collecting and co-coordinating disaster relief materials and also creating a Chief Minister’s Distress Relief fund donation platform. One of the notable acts done by the Chief Minister of Kerala was his direct Call to people for financial and material assistance and it proved fruitful. As on 30th August, it collected 1035.93 Crores (USD 150 million) from general public including famous personalities, organisations and corporate firms. Also, most Chief Ministers of other states of India pledged monetary support totaling to 221 Crores (USD 31 million). The citizens of India, living in India or abroad, has contributed in providing flood relief materials as well as in giving monetary help.
The Chief Minister of Kerala made a call of action to all the Keralites living in and outside of Kerala to donate one month salary to the relief fund and the same became viral all over India, receiving contributions from legislative members from other States and members of Parliament. This new line of call for action has helped to create an awareness of the magnitude of the disaster and paved a direct way for general public to support a Government in disaster response. Kerala is literally rebuilding itself with the help of global citizens.
The fund generation for any disaster relief is just the first step. Implementing and executing mitigation plan is the challenge ahead. Even if, the State of Kerala has introduced new campaigns to generate the State’s own distress relief fund, it is only in time we can see, how the Government of India and Kerala State will work together in rebuilding the State.

