Financing the pandemic preparedness & response

Udayan Hazarika

(The writer can be reached at udayanhazarika@hotmail.com)

Immediately after the declaration of the novel corona virus disease as pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), India also declared COVID-19 as notified disaster under Disaster Management Act 2005 in March 2020 for the purpose of State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF). As there is no express provision in the Disaster Management Act to declare any phenomenon as national disaster, Government was forced to issue a simple letter to all the chief secretaries of the States communicating the Government's decision to consider the COVID-19 as disaster. In fact, it is the same reason why despite strong demands from the people of Assam, the floods in the State could not be declared as a national disaster till this day. It is unfortunate that as many as 14 years have elapsed and government failed to amend the Act accommodating therein an enabling provision as such.

The phenomenon such as COVID-19 is necessary to be declared as a disaster under the Act of 2005 so as to get the advantages of the standard operating procedures provided in the Act for mitigating and managing the disaster and to make available of the fund required for the purpose. The disaster Act has not specifically mentioned as to which are the phenomenon to be called as disasters but defines what a disaster [Section-2(d)] is. For the purpose of mitigating disasters, the Act empowers the national Disaster Management Authority under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister and authorises at various levels to prepare plans for various disasters and implement and execute the same. However, no such plan has so far been prepared such as the present biological disaster caused by the spread of coronavirus. The Constitution although has not defined disaster as such but entry-29 of the concurrent list provides for "prevention of the extension from one State to another of infectious or contagious diseases or pests affecting men, animals or plants." This could adequately equip the authority with power to handle the biological disaster that we are dealing with now.

One notable reason for brining COVID-19 within the purview of DM Act is to realise the benefits of disaster funds. The DM Act provides for creation of two funds at national level namely National Disaster Mitigation Fund and National Disaster Response Fund. Similarly, at State level also the Act provides for two funds namely State Disaster Mitigation Fund and State Disaster Response Fund. However, so far neither the Central Government nor the State Government has created the Mitigation Fund despite a standing direction from Supreme Court. Finance for the mitigation and management of disaster is shared between the Central and the State Governments. In case of special category States like Assam and other NE States, the share is 90:10 while in case of general category States, the share is divided in 70:30 ratios. The strength of the fund is determined by the successive Finance Commissions. The present Fifteenth Finance Commission has recently recommended in their interim report for creation of the long-pending Disaster Mitigation funds at both at national and State Level. From now onwards, the existing NDRF and proposed NDMF will be called national Disaster Risk Management Fund and at State level both will be called State Disaster Risk Management Fund (SDRMF).

Total fund allocated by the Commission for NDRMF is Rs 1233.90 crore and for SDRMF is Rs 28,983 core for the year 2020-21. In both the cases, 20 per cent of the fund will have to be spent for mitigation and the remaining 80 per cent is for disaster response. The Commission also showed the break up as to how this 80 per cent of the response fund is to be spent. Accordingly, 40 per cent of the fund has been earmarked for spending in response and relief works, 30 per cent for recovery and reconstruction and 10 per cent for capacity building. This clear break up will be helpful especially for the poor and affected people as in most cases State governments attempt to spend the entire fund meant the year on recovery and reconstruction works leaving aside the relief and rehabilitation works. There are instances where even severely affected people did not receive the due relief or rehabilitation assistance for years together. The allocation given for capacity building is also a welcome measure which if spent effectively, would be able to create an asset of human resources for the States. The relief officers and staff, who are pressed into emergency relief services year after year uninterrupted, never get any chances of training on modern disaster management or handling the modern equipments. This will open up a new opportunity for these employees and gradually this could be extended to the NGOs also who are engaged in the disaster mitigation.

For the year 2020-21, the Commission has earmarked Rs 1,200 crore for NDRF with specific objective of (i) expanding and modernisation of fire services and (ii) resettlement of displaced persons affected by coastal and river erosion. Both these measures will help Assam in catering certain long pending problems in fire services mainly raising new fire stations, bridging the gaps in infrastructure and logistic facilities. Similarly, the persons left displaced after the river erosion might get a chance for rehabilitation. For this, the State Government should submit concrete feasible proposals before the Central Government claiming a share from these amounts.

For allocating fund for this year in the SDRMF, the Commission has adopted a method which is different from that of the methods adopted by the earlier Commissions. The new method adopted by the Commission is a combination of 3 criteria namely (i) capacity – which is a yardstick of fund spent in the earlier years, (ii) risk exposure (area and population) and (iii) proneness to hazard and vulnerability (disaster risk index). The combination of score was highest in respect of the State of Maharastra. Total central fund allocated to the SDRMF by the Commission is Rs 22,184 crore for the year 2020-21. Of this fund, Maharashtra received the highest amount (Rs 3,222 crore as central share) followed by Uttar Pradesh ( Rs 1,933 crore), Madhya Pradesh ( Rs 1,820 crore), Odhisa (Rs 1,604 crore) and Bihar (Rs 1,416 crore). Assam received Rs 772 crore. Apart from the above, the north-eastern States have also been allocated Rs 50 crore for taking effective measure for preventing landslide.

As per the guidelines, Government of India is to release the above allocated amounts to the States in two equal instalments. So far Government of India has released Rs 11,092 crore as first instalment to the States disaster mitigation and response fund. Assam received an amount of Rs 386 crore for the purpose. Of this amount, as per the direction of the Central Government, each State is eligible to utilise 35 per cent of the released amount to meet the emergency expenditures related to COVID-19. Along with this, Government of India has also released an amount of Rs 24,780 crore as recommended by Commission as deficit grant in aid. Assam has received Rs 2,524 crore of this grant which is also available for utilization in the COVID-19.

This apart, two other notable fund sources of COVID-19 are the controversial PM Cares Fund and Assam COVID-19 Relief Fund. As per Government of India, an amount of Rs 3,500 crore has already been spent from the PM Care for fund. However, the State Government has not made any statement about any expenditure made from the Assam COVID Relief Fund. It is noteworthy to keep in mind that while handling public money it should be such that public feels it transparent- not the handler.