37 / 168
[
] 37
cycle (mitigation, preparedness, response, relief, reconstruction
and recovery). In addition to the Government, civil society, the
private sector and the community have also changed their focus,
joining with the Government to start their own initiatives for risk
reduction.
Training and knowledge management
In 1993, the Government of India, acknowledging the IDNDR
commitment to DRR, started its first organized, dedicated initia-
tive for training government officials and other stakeholders. To
do that, the Government created dedicated institutions at the
federal and state levels. Training and capacity development, which
started initially in project mode, subsequently became a regular
phenomenon in the country. In these government-owned institu-
tions – federal and state levels together – nearly 1,000 training
programmes, workshops and seminars are conducted every year.
These programmes cover different thematic areas which train
almost 35,000 stakeholders every year. Training related to disaster
management has also been mainstreamed in various sectors such as
education, health, rural development, urban planning, police and
agriculture. These institutions are working in close collaboration
with national and international training, research and educational
institutions. Today, the country is also providing bilateral support
in capacity development and training.
Public awareness
Public awareness is one of the most cost-effective solutions for
creating a culture of preparedness. It is people who can make
the difference in risk mitigation. The Indian Government took a
conscious decision to create awareness among various stakeholders
and developed a long-term strategy. This was drafted in collabo-
ration with institutions dealing with mass media education, and
disaster management training, and representatives from print and
electronic media and civil society. Accordingly, an organized mass
awareness programme – pre, during and post-disaster – started
with print, electronic and folk media in the country. Mock drills for
the public and officials, simulating disaster scenarios, became an
important component. Disaster management was mainstreamed by
incorporating the subject in the curriculum of mass media educa-
tion, primary and secondary schools, adding a paper on disaster
management in professional and technical institutions to strengthen
the campaign, and institutionalizing DRR. This is helping to make
people more aware and better prepared.
Institutional development
The Government of India continued its initiative to strengthen
its institutions for DRR, with the creation of NDMA and NIDM.
NDMA was formed to give direction and bring policy change for
DRR at the federal level. On a similar pattern, the State Disaster
Management Authority and District Disaster Management
Authority were established at state and district levels. National
policy on disaster management was also established in 2007.
Legislation and policy are helping to strengthen new institutional
arrangements created for DRR.
Legislation is now helping to make provincial and district-
level institutional reforms. These reforms could help by ensuring
specific ex-ante budgetary allocation for mitigation projects and
programmes. The National Act on Disaster Management has made
a special provision for the creation of national, state and district
disaster mitigation funds to support pre-disaster risk
mitigation measures. Special risk mitigation projects
started with a central focus on training and capacity
development components. Scientific, technical and
professional institutions came together on one plat-
form and scattered efforts were synergized in a new
form of knowledge management. The India Disaster
Knowledge Network online portal for DRR is a unique
output of the recent efforts. This has started helping
all the stakeholders in designing their own capacity
development programmes leading to risk reduction.
Mainstreaming DRR and development
At the community level, several good practices can be
seen which not only focus on disaster management, but
also have a deep impact on mainstreaming DRR in the
development process. There is no development activity
in a village which does not address DRR. Several success
stories have been reported from the field, which are very
encouraging for the people as well as for the new system.
Dasholi village, in the Chamoli district of the undi-
vided state of Uttar Pradesh, was severely hit by floods
and subsequently by severe landslide, creating large-
scale devastation. The area now falls in Uttarakhand,
the hill state carved out in the year 2000. A DRR and
capacity-building initiative, with the primary goal of
mainstreaming DRR, was started in the village. The
initiative later spread to other districts in the region,
including Uttarkashi, Tehri Garhwal and Pauri
Gahrwal. The entire movement is replete with valuable
insights into the dynamics of people-led DRR action
and community resilience-building.
A community-led initiative
The initiative started in 1976 as a spontaneous
response in the form of a non-violent protest against
indiscriminate deforestation resulting in frequent
floods and landslides. This was not a project-driven
initiative, but a people-led movement, which trans-
formed the way the state and local government looked
at the issues related to forests and the use of forest
resources such as trees.
DRR has been inherent in the entire initiative, with
the core concern of survival of life and livelihood. The
national and federal governments have recognized it
as a major community-led environmental conserva-
tion movement, but for a long time it was not seen as
a DRR initiative. Later, the initiative was recognized
by the local government and the people, and actions
were introduced which would lead to DRR. This is
an ongoing capacity building process, now organized
by the non-governmental organization Dasholi Gram
Samaj Mandal and the Government together.
Mainstreaming DRR by the community
This initiative led to risk reduction, enabling risk-free
development and sustainable livelihoods. Both women
and men have been active participants in the process.
Women led the initiative as development activists.