National Disaster Management Authority

National Disaster Management Authority

Subject : National Organisations

Context : The Supreme Court directed the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to frame guidelines for payment of ex-gratia compensation to family members of persons who succumbed to COVID-19.

Concept :

• It also directed the NDMA to ascertain within six weeks ex-gratia amount that can be paid to the family members of those who died due to the infection.
• The court’s order came in response to a plea seeking ex-gratia of four lakh rupees each to the families of all those who succumbed to the virus.

NDMA:

• Parent body: Ministry of Home Affairs.
• Primary Objective: To coordinate response to natural or man-made disasters and for capacity-building in disaster resiliency and crisis response.
• Origin: NDMA was established through the Disaster Management Act enacted by the Government of India in 2005.

Organisation setup:

• The Prime Minister is the ex-officio chairperson of the NDMA, who chairs a 9-member board.
• The remainder of the board consists of members nominated based on their expertise in areas such as, planning, infrastructure management, communications, meteorology etc.
• The day-to-day management of the agency is overseen by the office of the Vice Chair.