States will have to contribute just 10 pct to SDRF from April 1

The Centre has enhanced its contribution in the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) from 75 percent to 90 percent with effect from April 1, the Home Ministry announced Thursday.

Henceforth, the central government will contribute 90 percent and all states will contribute 10 percent to the SDRF.

The additional contribution by the central government in SDRF on this account will be Rs 1690.35 crore for 2018-19 and Rs 1774.67 crore for the financial year 2019-20, a home ministry statement said.

Kerala, which has recently faced the worst floods in a century, will be a major beneficiary of the central government's decision.

Under the Disaster Management Act 2005, a financial mechanism has been set up by way of National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) at the national level and SDRF at the state level to meet the rescue and relief expenditure during any notified disasters.

The SDRF has been constituted in each state in which Centre, so far, had been contributing 75 percent for the general category states and 90 percent for special category states of hilly regions every year, the statement said.

The SDRF is a resource available to the states to meet the expenses of relief operations of immediate nature, for a range of specified disasters. At any point, the state government has a fair amount of funds available under the SDRF.

In case of any natural calamity beyond the coping capacity of a state, additional financial assistance, as per norms, is provided by the central government from NDRF, in which 100 percent funding is by the central government.

Based on the recommendations of successive Finance Commission, the central government approves the annual allocation to SDRF. On the recommendations of 14th Finance Commission, the government has significantly enhanced the allocation to SDRF by 82.30 percent i.e. from Rs 33,580.93 crore during 2010-11 to 2014-15 to Rs 61,220 crore for 2015-16 to 2019-20.

In addition, the central government has provided additional financial assistance of Rs 32,142 crore from NDRF to the states during 2014-2018 compared to Rs 14,098 crore provided during 2010-2014, which is also significantly higher, the statement said.