Relevance: GS-3: Disaster and disaster management, Impact of disasters on Indian economy,issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources, growth, development and employment.

Key Phrases: Flood management, National Disaster Management Authority(NDMA),disaster management policy,economic and social impact of floods, National Disaster Response force(NDRF), climate change impact.

Context:

• As per data from the Disaster Management Division, Ministry of Home Affairs, in the recent few months heavy rainfall has caused devastating floods in several States, resulting in more than 1400 lives being lost, and more than 3.5 lakh houses being damaged, and crop damage in over 300 districts.

Background:

• In India, out of the total geographical area of 329 million hectares (mha), more than 40 mha is flood prone.
• Increased frequency of floods in traditionally less flood-prone areas is a cause of concern and poses challenges before the policy makers.
• According to the Global Climate Risk Index 2021, India was the seventh worst hit country in 2019 due to extreme weather-related events.
• States across the nation have reported casualties due to floods and Himachal Pradesh ,Assam and MP being the top 3 states with maximum casualties.

Causes of Floods in India:

• One major cause is India’s rapidly altering geo-climatic and socio-economic conditions .
• Growing developmental and economic activities in flood plains
• Vast network of rivers in which the rivers bring heavy sediment load from catchments. These, coupled with inadequate carrying capacity of rivers are responsible for causing floods, drainage congestion and erosion of river-banks.
• Cyclones, cyclonic circulations and cloud bursts cause flash floods and their frequency has increased due to varying climatic conditions.
• Rapid urbanization has significantly altered the geographical landscapes, especially in coastal areas making them vulnerable to floods.
• Deforestation has led to reduced resilience of land against natural catastrophes such as floods and tsunamis.
• Higher population growth is causing an unprecedented burden on natural resources and they are being rapidly exploited which has disturbed the natural cycles and harmony.
• Irregular rainfall coupled with global warming and climatic phenomena such as El-Nino.

Floods in India : Data and Statistics

• Floods are the most recurrent phenomena in India after cyclones and are amongst India’s most lethal and costly disasters.
• In 1980, Rashtriya Barh Ayog (RBA) estimated 40 million hectares (mha) of land as flood-prone, which has increased by around 14 per cent to 45.64 mha in 2011.
• A 2022 report from the Central Water Commission states that death from floods increased from 37 in 1953 to 1,815 in 2020.
• The loss due to floods increased sharply, from about ₹50 crore in 1950s to about ₹21000 crore in 2020.
• Overall, over 1 lakh people have been killed, and over 2000 million people have been affected due to floods since independence.
• The floods have caused economic losses of about ₹4.4 lakh crore, while losses on account of damage to crops and public infrastructure stood at about ₹1.3 lakh crore and ₹2.3 lakh crore, respectively.
• On average, the Indian economy’s annual loss due to floods was about ₹6500 crore.
• According to a paper Parida et al (2020) India lost around 0.46 percent of GDP yearly due to floods. Damage to crops has been estimated to account for around 0.18 percent of GDP.

Impact of floods

• The increase in flood-prone area has caused infrastructure damage and claimed numerous lives which have been aggravated by rapid climate change.
• Another adverse impact of floods is the disproportional rise in the fiscal burden of the Central and State governments, through spending on disaster management activities.
• Floods destroy standing crops posing a challenge to Food security and Inflation in the country.
• Urban flooding has become a common threat to city dwellers due to poor town planning and a dearth of investments in infrastructure.
• Adverse impact on the employment opportunities in rural areas, thus hastening inequalities, poverty and loss of livelihoods.

Way Forward : measures to mitigate floods

• Creating A National Disaster Database which will help policymakers and academics devise long-term flood management policies.
• As the problem of urban flooding is becoming more severe, and losses are increasing each year, the issue merits concerted attention from policymakers with appropriate implementation of the NDMA guidelines on Urban Flooding 2010.
• Strict implementation of the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification issued in 1991 (revised in 2011 and 2019 )with the primary intention to address coastal zone management issues
• Use of Intelligent flood warning systems like IFLOWS (integrated flood warning system)
• National Flood Commission recommendations have failed to achieve much success in mitigating floods which need to be remodeled.
• To mitigate the impact of floods, better disaster management policies are needed such as:
  • Greater spending on building flood-resilient infrastructure
  • Improving and enhancing capacity of flood warning systems
  • Construction of flood shelters in coastal districts
  • Improving river connectivity and construction of river embankments,
  • Creating and implementing community awareness programmes.
  • Providing pucca houses to poor households in low-lying areas.

Source: The Hindu BL

Mains Question:

Q. “Flood is not only a disaster but also the fate of developing countries”, elucidate in the context of India ? (250 words).