Dr. Jayanta Debnath is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science, Mrinalini Datta Mahavidyapith, Kolkata, West Bengal
Introduction
India is among the top 10 disaster-affected countries in the Global Climate Risk Index 2021 published by Bonn-based environmental think tank, Germanwatch. Over the last five years, the country has suffered from large-scale floods in the states of Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Bihar, Kerala, Maharashtra, and West Bengal, and cyclones like Phailin, Hudud, and Fani in Odisha, Okchi in Tamil Nadu, Titali in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, Gaja in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, Bulbul, Fani, Amphan, and Yaas in West Bengal, and successive droughts in the states of Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana. Also, various studies say that vulnerable people in developing countries like India suffer the most from extreme weather events like storms, floods, and heatwaves, while the impacts of climate change are visible around the globe.
In the context of floods, in the year of 1980, the Rashtriya Barh Ayog (National Commission on Floods) assessed that the overall area of about 40 million hectares (MHA) in the country is vulnerable to floods. It was revised further to 49.815 MHA by the Working Group on Flood Management set up by the Planning Commission for the 12th Five-Year Plan, based upon the information furnished by the state governments (CWC, 2020). According to the UNDRR’s Annual Report of 2019, India has an average of 17 flood events annually, impacting 345 million people. The frequency and magnitudes of flood events are an increasing trend in India. Globally, due to the climate change crisis, coastal areas will see continued sea-level rise throughout the 21st century, contributing to more frequent and severe coastal flooding in low-lying areas and coastal erosion. According to the report, India’s vast coastline of 7,517 km, including big port cities: Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Kochi, Surat, and Visakhapatnam, will be at higher risk of frequent flooding. Therefore, it will require more sustained government actions to cope with the future risk of floods.
Flood Control to Flood Risk Governance – A Paradigm Shift
The government of India set up the Rashtriya Barh Ayog under the Chairmanship of Shri Jaisukhlal Hathi in the year of 1976 to evolve a coordinated, integrated, and scientific approach to flood control problems and to draw out a national plan fixing priorities for implementation in the future. The Commission submitted its report in the year 1980. In this report, it was said that in the past, the emphasis was on structural methods of protection from floods. But it advocated for the consideration of non-structural measures in flood management (Rashtriya Barh Ayog, 1980). This includes physical, biological, economic, social, and administrative such as soil conservation, afforestation, reservoirs, embankments, drainage channels, dredging, flood plain regulations, flood forecasting and early warning, emergency measures, flood insurance, etc. (ibid.). Thus, for the first time in India, a shift in the conventional thought regarding flood management was observed. But, unfortunately, its recommendations were not followed by most of the states as poor flood risk governance systems continued in the country.
United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) defines disaster risk governance as “The system of institutions, mechanisms, policy, and legal frameworks and other arrangements to guide, coordinate and oversee disaster risk reduction and related areas of policy”. Here, the concept of governance is critical. It refers to the transparent, inclusive, collective, and efficient governance system to reduce existing disaster risks and avoid creating new ones. Previously, flood management has been looked at from a controlled measure and relief-centric approach. Now, many aspects like investment, preparedness, awareness, education, participation, capacity building, risk transfer, risk assessment, accountability, research, and development have started getting important in flood risk management. Capacity building and strengthening DRR institutions have also started gaining importance. Therefore, the National Policy of India on Disaster Management (2009) emphasized that the capacity of existing institutions needs to be upgraded in accordance with regional and local requirements (NDMA, 2009). This also aims at strengthening the disaster risk governance at all levels for robust management of risk and to make the governance systems more responsive. Hence this policy-level visualization is also in line with The Sendai Frame Work for DRR, Priority 2 (strengthening DRR governance to manage DR), and Priority 3 (investing in DRR for resilience).
Prepared Enough?
Despite these policy-level visualizations and commitments, India is yet to move beyond rescue and relief to truly prepare for reducing and managing flood risks. we can understand this pily implementation gap by the example of flood management financing. After the 2018 Kerala flood, a study published by the Ministry of Water Resources ranked Punjab, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Kerala, and Assam, Gujarat, and Odisha as10 most vulnerable states to flood in India. This study was based on the data collected by the central government on areas flooded from 1950 to 2016. In this report, two significant aspects were highlighted: preparedness level and fund release. Concerning the former, it was said that flood disasters occur in India, mainly owing to the unpreparedness of the state governments. While looking at the disaster financing aspect, the report found a considerable gap between fund allocation and actual fund release for flood management. It stated that till March 31, 2018, the total approved work for flood management was estimated to cost Rs. 13,238 crores (for both XI and XII plan years). But only Rs. 4873 crores of the total estimated cost was released (The Times of India, 2018).
Investing Adequately in Flood Risk Governance
The Fifteenth Finance Commission of India recommended empowering local governments, especially Panchayati Raj Institutions for disaster preparedness and management. It says the lack of disaster preparedness and mitigation planning at the local level, especially at the Gram Panchayat level, gives rise to considerable problems in the management of disasters. The Commission is also of the view that State Governments should allocate some reasonable amount out of the allocations made for SDRF and SDMF to districts. These financial mechanisms would strengthen a decentralized approach to disaster management (XV Finance Commission, 2020). Similarly, justified and adequate investments in disaster financing and Capacity building of the institutions at central, state, district, and village levels through good governance should be the key to effective flood risk management in India.