New Delhi: The Task Force constituted by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) presented its report on “Establishing a Coalition on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI)” to the Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh here today. The Task Force was constituted by the MHA with approval of Union Home Minister on 18th August, 2017, headed by Ms. Preeti Saran, Secretary (East), Ministry of External Affairs.
The report provides a step-by-step implementation plan and analysis in order to build and operationalise a Coalition. The study includes:
- Business case for the coalition
- Analysis of best practices of international partnerships in disaster risk and other thematic areas lead by India
- Preliminary design of the coalition
- Roll – out plan
During the Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) held in New Delhi in November 2016, the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi outlined a 10-point Agenda for disaster risk reduction. Under the first agenda, the Prime Minister said that “India will work with other partner countries and key stakeholders to build a coalition or centre for promoting disaster resilient infrastructure in the region. This will help generate new knowledge for hazard risk assessment, disaster resilient technologies and mechanism for integrating risk reduction in infrastructure financing”.
With a view to take this agenda further forward, a Task Force was constituted by the Ministry of Home Affairs. Besides the chairperson Ms. Preeti Saran, Secretary (East), Ministry of External Affairs, the Task Force comprised of members namely Shri Kamal Kishore, Member, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Shri Sameer Kr. Khare, Joint Secretary (MI), Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Shri Sanjeev Kumar Jindal, Joint Secretary (DM), Ministry of Home Affairs and Dr. Ila Patnaik, Professor, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP). The Task Force was mandated to prepare its report by 30thApril, 2018 on “Establishing a Coalition on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI)”. The officers of MEA and other Ministries were also co-opted by the Committee on need basis.
In total, the Committee met seven times to work out the report. One International Workshop on “Disaster Resilient Infrastructure” was also held as per the advice of the Task Force on 15-16 January, 2018 in New Delhi to get inputs from potential partner countries. More than 180 delegates including experts from 21 countries, Multilateral Development Banks, the United Nations, the private sector, academics and National representatives of Central Governments and State Governments participated in the workshop.
