The government on Wednesday revised the items and norms in respect of the centrally notified disasters like floods, cyclones, droughts, hailstorms, tsunami and earthquakes.
The revised orders include various aspects of response and preparedness like ex-gratia to the next of kin of people who may lose their precious lives, ex-gratia in cases of people suffering severe disability, gratuitous relief for families whose livelihoods may seriously be affected due to disasters, agricultural input subsidy to farmers, replacement of different categories of animals, procurement of search, rescue, evacuation and communication equipment, an official release said.
The government has permitted up to 10 percent of allocation under the State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF) to be spent on equipment.
A maximum of 5 percent of SDRF allocation can be spent on capacity building. The state governments can also use up to 10 percent of their SDRF allocation on 'local disasters', for which the state executive committees have to work out the modalities and criteria, the release added.
It has simplified the procedure for adjustment of available balances under SDRF, while releasing assistance from the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF) in case of severe disasters.
The government has also enabled automatic annual upgrading of the norms by referencing with the movement of wholesale price index.
