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Informist, Thursday, Aug 1, 2024

NEW DELHI – The Disaster Management (Amendment) Bill, 2024, was introduced in the Lok Sabha today by Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai. The introduction was opposed by members of the Congress and the All India Trinamool Congress, questioning the legislative competence of the central government to introduce the bill.

The bill seeks to constitute a disaster database at the national and state levels. The database will include disaster assessments, details of fund allocation and expenditure, preparedness and mitigation plans, a risk register according to type and severity of risk, and other such information.

The bill also has provisions for the constitution of urban disaster management authorities in state capitals and large cities with municipal corporations.

The bill amends the Disaster Management Act, 2005, to bring more clarity and convergence in the roles of authorities and committees working to manage disasters.

The bill aims to strengthen the work of the National Disaster Management Authority and the state disaster management authorities and empower them to prepare disaster plans at the national level and state levels, instead of the National Executive Committee and state executive committees who do this currently.

Significantly, the Lok Sabha today also passed the Demands for Grants for the Ministry of Railways for 2024-25 (Apr-Mar) amidst an uproar by the Opposition, which later staged a walkout.

The opposition parties were protesting against Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw’s reply in the Lower House and demanded his resignation.

The uproar started after Vaishnaw accused the erstwhile Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government of not focusing on installing automatic train protection systems. Hanuman Beniwal, member of Parliament from Rajasthan, called Vaishnaw a "reel" minister, which infuriated the minister and led him to retort that the government does not believe in making reels but in working hard for reforms. He also claimed that the average number of accidents every year is down 68% in comparison to the tenure of the Congress-led government.

After the passage of grants for the railway ministry, the Lok Sabha took up the Demand for Grants to the education ministry and passed it after the reply of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. The Rajya Sabha discussed the working of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and the Ministry of Agriculture.  End

Reported by Kuldeep Singh

Edited by Rajeev Pai

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