Context: Responding to the Supreme Court’s decision of refusing to entertain a petition seeking to declare the Joshimath crisis as ‘national disaster’, and asking the petitioners to approach the Uttarakhand High Court, Atul Sati, convener of the Joshimath Bachao Sangharsh Samiti, said that his ‘apprehension’ was proved true.
What is national disaster?
- As per the Disaster Management Act, 2005, “disaster” means a catastrophe, mishap, calamity or grave occurrence in any area, arising from natural or man-made causes, or by accident or negligence which results in substantial loss of life or human suffering or damage to, and destruction of, property, or damage to, or degradation of, environment, and is of such a nature or magnitude as to be beyond the coping capacity of the community of the affected area. A natural disaster includes earthquake, flood, landslide, cyclone, tsunami, urban flood, heatwave; a man-made disaster can be nuclear, biological and chemical.
How can any of these be classified as a national disaster?
- There is no provision, executive or legal, to declare a natural calamity as a national calamity. In reply to a question in Parliament during the recent monsoon session, MoS (Home) Kiren Rijiju said, “The existing guidelines of State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF)/ National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF), do not contemplate declaring a disaster as a ‘National Calamity’.”
- In March 2001, then MoS (Agriculture) Shripad Naik had told Parliament that the government had treated the 2001 Gujarat earthquake and the 1999 super cyclone in Odisha as “a calamity of unprecedented severity”
How does the government classify disasters/calamities?
- The 10th Finance Commission (1995-2000) examined a proposal that a disaster be termed “a national calamity of rarest severity” if it affects one-third of the population of a state.
- The panel did not define a “calamity of rare severity” but stated that a calamity of rare severity would necessarily have to be adjudged on a case-to-case basis taking into account, inter-alia, the intensity and magnitude of the calamity, level of assistance needed, the capacity of the state to tackle the problem, the alternatives and flexibility available within the plans to provide succour and relief, etc.
- The flash floods in Uttarakhand and Cyclone Hudhud were later classified as calamities of “severe nature”.
What happens if a calamity is so declared?
- When a calamity is declared to be of “rare severity”/” severe nature”, support to the state government is provided at the national level. The Centre also considers additional assistance from the NDRF.
- A Calamity Relief Fund (CRF) is set up, with the corpus shared 3:1 between Centre and state. When resources in the CRF are inadequate, additional assistance is considered from the National Calamity Contingency Fund (NCCF), funded 100% by the Centre.
- Relief in repayment of loans or for grant of fresh loans to the persons affected on concessional terms, too, are considered once a calamity is declared “severe”.
Current Issue
- The Supreme Court asked the Uttarakhand High Court to consider grievances regarding relief and rehabilitation for people affected by the Joshimath land sinking incident with “reasonable dispatch” if the issue is raised before it.
- A Bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud said the apex court ought not to intervene when the Uttarakhand High Court was already seized of a broad range of issues concerning the Joshimath land sinking.
- “Substantial overlap emerges between the Supreme Court and Uttarakhand High Court proceedings,” the apex court said in its order.
- The petition alleged that the incident in Joshimath was connected to the National Thermal Power Corporation’s (NTPC) Tapovan hydro-based power project and unregulated constructions affecting ecology of the area. It had sought NTPC to provide insurance coverage to the people living in vulnerable areas. The petition had asked the court to set up a committee to protect the geography and ecology of the area.
- The case in the Uttarakhand High Court had sought a restraint on hydropower projects until early warning systems were established. The petitioners in the High Court had also sought a review of the hydropower projects in the upper reaches of Uttarakhand, the Supreme Court order observed.
- Joshimath, the gateway to famous pilgrimage sites like Badrinath and Hemkund Sahib and international skiing destination Auli, is reported to be sinking gradually with huge cracks developing in houses, roads, and fields there.