In the light of recent buzz over mysterious offer by UAE to fund & help Kerala rise from the disaster and the cental governement’s alleged insufficient funding, there is a serious need that we look into the aspects of funding factually and systematically and how the benefits of these funds reached the flood-affected people of Kerala. Also let us test the truth by examining the hypes and controveries over the Kerala Relief Funds.

In the recent times, we have witnessed a political drama over Kerala flood relief funds. People of Kerala in these troubled times needed help of political parties and expected them to go beyond party lines over release of funds. But, to their utter surprise, those in power and their counterparts, rather than contributing physically and monetarily, used more words than actual contribution or I must say that they rather distributed hate.

Kerala is undoubtedly in sheer need of funds to recoup the loss. Surprisingly, there were many talks than action on this issue. On the other hand, Indian Army as usual, did a tremendous job and the videos of Army men rescuing people in distress went viral on social media. National Disaster Management Force (NDMF) did its part in rescuing people which is equally commendable. 

Coming on to the facts of the fund so far, Kerala CM Relief Fund received donations of over Rs1000 crores till recently. That’s so impressive and looking at the help trend, Kerala’s finance minister said that it can reach the pinnacle of Rs2000 crores, breaking all the previous records. By donating, people of India across the country have shown the traits that India stands united in troubled times. Funds released by centre also attracted criticism by some people and was Centre was accused of being partial in its approach. People also criticised that the funds were insufficient in helping the severely hit people in this calamity. Here, in the light of the above criticisms, it is needed that we look into the structure of fund release policies. (See the PDF document on NDRF and SDRF)

National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) are mainly two major govt. initiatives for handling calamities in India. It was in 2005 after the tsunamis, NDRF and SDRF were created under the Disaster Management Act. During this period, Manmohan Singh’s Govt. rejected all the foreign aid projecting India as a self-sustaining country, which was a commendable statement. (For detailed information about the distribution of money and calamities included in this act, Kindly read the attached file.) NDRF is the fund given by the Centre. SDRF fund is released by the state govt. in which the ratio of the fund is 75:25 to that of centre and state govt. respectively.

These funds get recouped through collection of taxes, mostly levied on tobacco and related products. So, next time, you witness a group sipping tea at a public place and discussing politics as well as lack of will showed by the govt. to ban tobacco products, politely state them the facts and benefit of the taxation levied on tobacco products. Of course, it should not encourage them to use tobacco.

Earlier during the Chennai floods, Centre released relief funds of more than Rs1500 crores, Rs1000 crore during Bihar floods and nearly Rs800 crore during floods in Arunachal Pradesh.

Now, in case of Kerala, the centre reportedly gave Rs600 crores. It raised few questions and left people surmising that Centre had released less funds or Kerala was left by the centre, as there was a leftist government in this God’s own country. But, what about Chennai and Arunachala Pradesh? In both the states, the ruling govt. was that of a different political than the Centre. We witnessed too much hue and cry of religion and politics in the midst of this calamity, people were seen to compare it with a havoc which may have been the result of sacrifice of cow for a beef party, just to outrage a community in the middle of the public street etc.

In the case of Kerala, where we heard the news that Govt. gave Rs600 crore to flood-affected Kerala then we should know that this money is an interim relief fund only and the cumulative amount of NDRF and SDRF are not known yet. If we look at the current scenario in the country, Arunachal Pradesh, East UP,, MP etc. are facing floods too. So, being practical, the Govt. had to tackle all these situations meticulously as well as simultaneously, so we can’t expect the govt. to spend entire money on a single calamity-affected state. Thus, as the rebuilding of Kerala progressed, we will see that the help will be given to whom it is needed most.

© Harsh. DO NOT COPY