Crisis Management | Indian Polity for UPSC CSE PDF Download

 Page 1


THIRD REPORT
SECOND ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS COMMISSION
Second Administrative Reforms Commission
Government of India
2nd Floor, Vigyan Bhawan Annexe, Maulana Azad Road, New Delhi 110 011
e-mail : arcommission@nic.in    website : http://arc.gov.in
CRISIS MANAGEMENT    From Despair to Hope
3
CRISIS MANAGEMENT
From Despair to Hope
CRISIS MANAGEMENT
From Despair to Hope
SEPTEMBER 2006 SEPTEMBER 2006
Page 2


THIRD REPORT
SECOND ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS COMMISSION
Second Administrative Reforms Commission
Government of India
2nd Floor, Vigyan Bhawan Annexe, Maulana Azad Road, New Delhi 110 011
e-mail : arcommission@nic.in    website : http://arc.gov.in
CRISIS MANAGEMENT    From Despair to Hope
3
CRISIS MANAGEMENT
From Despair to Hope
CRISIS MANAGEMENT
From Despair to Hope
SEPTEMBER 2006 SEPTEMBER 2006
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
SECOND ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS COMMISSION
THIRD REPORT
CRISIS MANAGEMENT
FROM DESPAIR TO HOPE
SEPTEMBER 2006
Page 3


THIRD REPORT
SECOND ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS COMMISSION
Second Administrative Reforms Commission
Government of India
2nd Floor, Vigyan Bhawan Annexe, Maulana Azad Road, New Delhi 110 011
e-mail : arcommission@nic.in    website : http://arc.gov.in
CRISIS MANAGEMENT    From Despair to Hope
3
CRISIS MANAGEMENT
From Despair to Hope
CRISIS MANAGEMENT
From Despair to Hope
SEPTEMBER 2006 SEPTEMBER 2006
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
SECOND ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS COMMISSION
THIRD REPORT
CRISIS MANAGEMENT
FROM DESPAIR TO HOPE
SEPTEMBER 2006
PREFACE
The neglect of our natural assets and environment has always led to crisis. Whether it is the Mithi
River of Mumbai or Tapi of Surat or the civilisational crises in the past in which the “cradle of
civilisation” in the Middle East eventually became a desert, Greece and Turkey were deforested,
and the destruction of the American prairie contributed to the Dust Bowl, these are eloquent
testimony to such neglect. The once mighty Khmer Empire in Southeast Asia or the small tribes
that lived on Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean were consigned to the throes of oblivion only
because they so willfully decimated their natural assets and environment.
India is endowed with extraordinary natural and civilisational resources. Around the time of our
Independence, the American scholar Kingsley Davis gave a glowing account of the fabulous
geography of India, especially the great Indo-Gangetic plain:
“India is probably the third most gifted of the world’s regions with respect to industrial capacity, and the
second or third with reference to agricultural resources. But in sheer area it is big enough. The geographical
traits of the subcontinent are fabulous and their description requires unblushing superlatives…”
The key to the region’s peculiar geography lies more outside than inside the boundaries, although
it has its main effects inside. This is the Himalayan range, the loftiest mountain barrier in the
world, which shuts off the subcontinent from the rest of Asia. From 150 to 250 miles, the Roof of
the W orld stretches over 1,500 miles across the north of India. It boasts of the three highest points
on the earth’s surface, fifty summits of 25,000 feet or more, and an average elevation of 19,000
feet. The Himalayas contribute greatly to the soil, climate and the isolation of India. They are
eroding rapidly and sending out rich loam to the plains below. Because high plateau lands lie to
the north, the drainage runs southwards towards India. The three main rivers of the subcontinent
- Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra - with most of their tributaries, have their sources in the
Himalayas and bring down silt that has made the Indo-Gangetic plain, covering the whole of
northern India, the most fertile areas of its size in the world.
True, we cannot prevent natural hazards, which are endemic to our geology, geography, climate,
social and cultural settings, but we can certainly strive to manage crisis more efficiently so that
hazards do not degenerate into disasters.  With a coherent and meaningful crisis management
strategy in place, it is quite possible to visualize our country despite its manifold hazards as a place
that will eventually be free of all disasters.
In the realm of crisis management, announcing a policy or promulgating a law or creating an
institution is a relatively easy task; the challenge lies in implementing policies to achieve the
desired outcomes. Crisis management, a governance issue that is both vital and complex, is at the
core of India’s administrative system. The system requires innovative thinking and fundamental
“Crisis shouldn’t turn them beggars...”
Mahatma Gandhi during the Bihar Earthquake in 1934
Page 4


THIRD REPORT
SECOND ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS COMMISSION
Second Administrative Reforms Commission
Government of India
2nd Floor, Vigyan Bhawan Annexe, Maulana Azad Road, New Delhi 110 011
e-mail : arcommission@nic.in    website : http://arc.gov.in
CRISIS MANAGEMENT    From Despair to Hope
3
CRISIS MANAGEMENT
From Despair to Hope
CRISIS MANAGEMENT
From Despair to Hope
SEPTEMBER 2006 SEPTEMBER 2006
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
SECOND ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS COMMISSION
THIRD REPORT
CRISIS MANAGEMENT
FROM DESPAIR TO HOPE
SEPTEMBER 2006
PREFACE
The neglect of our natural assets and environment has always led to crisis. Whether it is the Mithi
River of Mumbai or Tapi of Surat or the civilisational crises in the past in which the “cradle of
civilisation” in the Middle East eventually became a desert, Greece and Turkey were deforested,
and the destruction of the American prairie contributed to the Dust Bowl, these are eloquent
testimony to such neglect. The once mighty Khmer Empire in Southeast Asia or the small tribes
that lived on Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean were consigned to the throes of oblivion only
because they so willfully decimated their natural assets and environment.
India is endowed with extraordinary natural and civilisational resources. Around the time of our
Independence, the American scholar Kingsley Davis gave a glowing account of the fabulous
geography of India, especially the great Indo-Gangetic plain:
“India is probably the third most gifted of the world’s regions with respect to industrial capacity, and the
second or third with reference to agricultural resources. But in sheer area it is big enough. The geographical
traits of the subcontinent are fabulous and their description requires unblushing superlatives…”
The key to the region’s peculiar geography lies more outside than inside the boundaries, although
it has its main effects inside. This is the Himalayan range, the loftiest mountain barrier in the
world, which shuts off the subcontinent from the rest of Asia. From 150 to 250 miles, the Roof of
the W orld stretches over 1,500 miles across the north of India. It boasts of the three highest points
on the earth’s surface, fifty summits of 25,000 feet or more, and an average elevation of 19,000
feet. The Himalayas contribute greatly to the soil, climate and the isolation of India. They are
eroding rapidly and sending out rich loam to the plains below. Because high plateau lands lie to
the north, the drainage runs southwards towards India. The three main rivers of the subcontinent
- Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra - with most of their tributaries, have their sources in the
Himalayas and bring down silt that has made the Indo-Gangetic plain, covering the whole of
northern India, the most fertile areas of its size in the world.
True, we cannot prevent natural hazards, which are endemic to our geology, geography, climate,
social and cultural settings, but we can certainly strive to manage crisis more efficiently so that
hazards do not degenerate into disasters.  With a coherent and meaningful crisis management
strategy in place, it is quite possible to visualize our country despite its manifold hazards as a place
that will eventually be free of all disasters.
In the realm of crisis management, announcing a policy or promulgating a law or creating an
institution is a relatively easy task; the challenge lies in implementing policies to achieve the
desired outcomes. Crisis management, a governance issue that is both vital and complex, is at the
core of India’s administrative system. The system requires innovative thinking and fundamental
“Crisis shouldn’t turn them beggars...”
Mahatma Gandhi during the Bihar Earthquake in 1934
changes in order to quicken the emergency responses of administration and increase the
effectiveness of the machinery to meet the crisis situation and enhance crisis preparedness.
T o that end, it is necessary that the apparatus of crisis management should perform and
deliver. The India Meteorological Department (IMD), in its 24 hours forecast and the
National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecast (NCMRWF) in its 46 hours
forecast predicted only 8 cm to 16 cm of rainfall over Mumbai on 26th and 27th July
2005, while the actual rainfall recorded was 94.4 cm. Thus the margin of error was
nearly 600%. There were significant intra-regional differences in rainfall due to cloudbursts
in some areas. For example Colaba had a rainfall of 7.3 cm while Santacruz experienced
a rainfall of 96 cm. Neither IMD nor NCMRWF could forecast these huge intra-city
differences in rainfall.
What is needed is ushering in a new paradigm in the quality and efficacy of our institutional
capacity and delivery mechanisms while ensuring, at the same time, that they are
embedded in both the structures of authority and the mechanisms of accountability.
While dealing with disasters, we need to be particularly responsive to the emotional and
social problems that people experience due to a disaster. Almost 10 per cent of the
people affected by the tsunami – potentially half a million people – had mental health
problems so severe that they required professional treatment. Psychosocial care deals
with a broad range of emotional and social problems and helps in restoring social cohesion
as well as the independence and dignity of individuals and groups. It prevents pathologic
developments and further social dislocations. Normalisation of emotional reaction is an
important task in psychosocial care for the survivors of the disaster. Emotional reactions
such as guilt, fear, shock, grief, vigilance, numbness, intrusive memories, and despair are
responses of people experiencing unforeseen disasters beyond their coping capacity.
Emotional reactions are normal responses to an abnormal situation. Nearly 90% of
survivors of disaster do undergo these emotional reactions immediately after the disaster.
Psychosocial care is essential for all these people.
The Commission has carefully studied the present structure of crisis management, systems
and processes including the Disaster Management Act, 2005 and the perceived gaps. In
order to arrive at its recommendations, it has critically examined aspects related to
constitutional and legal framework, institutional mechanisms, funding and infrastructure
support systems, preparedness measures, human resources development and knowledge
management institutions. The Commission’s recommendations aim at not only having
more efficient systems of governance but also at innovative ways of capacity building and
empowerment of all stakeholders at all levels including panchayats and the community,
strategic applications of science and technology, realisation of a sound emergency
communication network, building safe homes and infrastructure, and learning from
research and development and also from the experiences of handling crisis situations in
the past. Each of these tasks is a challenge, and calls for a careful strategy of planning and
implementation coupled with coordinated efforts of a variety of players both within and
outside the governmental structure.
The Commission thanks Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India for his valuable
guidance and also for having given an opportunity to the Commission to critically examine
this issue. The Commission is also grateful to Shri Shivraj V . Patil, Union Minister of
Home Affairs for his cooperation and help.
Let me quote Mahatma Gandhi once again to highlight the essence of our
recommendations …
“ A technological society has two choices. First, it can wait until catastrophic failures expose
systemic deficiencies, distortion and self-deceptions…. Secondly, a culture can provide social
checks and balances to correct for systemic distortions prior to catastrophic failures”.
The recommendations aim at establishing the synergy and convergence of advances in
the technological and knowledge era with our rich socio-cultural practices and indigenous
coping mechanisms.
New Delhi (M. VEERAPPA MOILY)
September 19, 2006 Chairman
Page 5


THIRD REPORT
SECOND ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS COMMISSION
Second Administrative Reforms Commission
Government of India
2nd Floor, Vigyan Bhawan Annexe, Maulana Azad Road, New Delhi 110 011
e-mail : arcommission@nic.in    website : http://arc.gov.in
CRISIS MANAGEMENT    From Despair to Hope
3
CRISIS MANAGEMENT
From Despair to Hope
CRISIS MANAGEMENT
From Despair to Hope
SEPTEMBER 2006 SEPTEMBER 2006
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
SECOND ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS COMMISSION
THIRD REPORT
CRISIS MANAGEMENT
FROM DESPAIR TO HOPE
SEPTEMBER 2006
PREFACE
The neglect of our natural assets and environment has always led to crisis. Whether it is the Mithi
River of Mumbai or Tapi of Surat or the civilisational crises in the past in which the “cradle of
civilisation” in the Middle East eventually became a desert, Greece and Turkey were deforested,
and the destruction of the American prairie contributed to the Dust Bowl, these are eloquent
testimony to such neglect. The once mighty Khmer Empire in Southeast Asia or the small tribes
that lived on Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean were consigned to the throes of oblivion only
because they so willfully decimated their natural assets and environment.
India is endowed with extraordinary natural and civilisational resources. Around the time of our
Independence, the American scholar Kingsley Davis gave a glowing account of the fabulous
geography of India, especially the great Indo-Gangetic plain:
“India is probably the third most gifted of the world’s regions with respect to industrial capacity, and the
second or third with reference to agricultural resources. But in sheer area it is big enough. The geographical
traits of the subcontinent are fabulous and their description requires unblushing superlatives…”
The key to the region’s peculiar geography lies more outside than inside the boundaries, although
it has its main effects inside. This is the Himalayan range, the loftiest mountain barrier in the
world, which shuts off the subcontinent from the rest of Asia. From 150 to 250 miles, the Roof of
the W orld stretches over 1,500 miles across the north of India. It boasts of the three highest points
on the earth’s surface, fifty summits of 25,000 feet or more, and an average elevation of 19,000
feet. The Himalayas contribute greatly to the soil, climate and the isolation of India. They are
eroding rapidly and sending out rich loam to the plains below. Because high plateau lands lie to
the north, the drainage runs southwards towards India. The three main rivers of the subcontinent
- Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra - with most of their tributaries, have their sources in the
Himalayas and bring down silt that has made the Indo-Gangetic plain, covering the whole of
northern India, the most fertile areas of its size in the world.
True, we cannot prevent natural hazards, which are endemic to our geology, geography, climate,
social and cultural settings, but we can certainly strive to manage crisis more efficiently so that
hazards do not degenerate into disasters.  With a coherent and meaningful crisis management
strategy in place, it is quite possible to visualize our country despite its manifold hazards as a place
that will eventually be free of all disasters.
In the realm of crisis management, announcing a policy or promulgating a law or creating an
institution is a relatively easy task; the challenge lies in implementing policies to achieve the
desired outcomes. Crisis management, a governance issue that is both vital and complex, is at the
core of India’s administrative system. The system requires innovative thinking and fundamental
“Crisis shouldn’t turn them beggars...”
Mahatma Gandhi during the Bihar Earthquake in 1934
changes in order to quicken the emergency responses of administration and increase the
effectiveness of the machinery to meet the crisis situation and enhance crisis preparedness.
T o that end, it is necessary that the apparatus of crisis management should perform and
deliver. The India Meteorological Department (IMD), in its 24 hours forecast and the
National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecast (NCMRWF) in its 46 hours
forecast predicted only 8 cm to 16 cm of rainfall over Mumbai on 26th and 27th July
2005, while the actual rainfall recorded was 94.4 cm. Thus the margin of error was
nearly 600%. There were significant intra-regional differences in rainfall due to cloudbursts
in some areas. For example Colaba had a rainfall of 7.3 cm while Santacruz experienced
a rainfall of 96 cm. Neither IMD nor NCMRWF could forecast these huge intra-city
differences in rainfall.
What is needed is ushering in a new paradigm in the quality and efficacy of our institutional
capacity and delivery mechanisms while ensuring, at the same time, that they are
embedded in both the structures of authority and the mechanisms of accountability.
While dealing with disasters, we need to be particularly responsive to the emotional and
social problems that people experience due to a disaster. Almost 10 per cent of the
people affected by the tsunami – potentially half a million people – had mental health
problems so severe that they required professional treatment. Psychosocial care deals
with a broad range of emotional and social problems and helps in restoring social cohesion
as well as the independence and dignity of individuals and groups. It prevents pathologic
developments and further social dislocations. Normalisation of emotional reaction is an
important task in psychosocial care for the survivors of the disaster. Emotional reactions
such as guilt, fear, shock, grief, vigilance, numbness, intrusive memories, and despair are
responses of people experiencing unforeseen disasters beyond their coping capacity.
Emotional reactions are normal responses to an abnormal situation. Nearly 90% of
survivors of disaster do undergo these emotional reactions immediately after the disaster.
Psychosocial care is essential for all these people.
The Commission has carefully studied the present structure of crisis management, systems
and processes including the Disaster Management Act, 2005 and the perceived gaps. In
order to arrive at its recommendations, it has critically examined aspects related to
constitutional and legal framework, institutional mechanisms, funding and infrastructure
support systems, preparedness measures, human resources development and knowledge
management institutions. The Commission’s recommendations aim at not only having
more efficient systems of governance but also at innovative ways of capacity building and
empowerment of all stakeholders at all levels including panchayats and the community,
strategic applications of science and technology, realisation of a sound emergency
communication network, building safe homes and infrastructure, and learning from
research and development and also from the experiences of handling crisis situations in
the past. Each of these tasks is a challenge, and calls for a careful strategy of planning and
implementation coupled with coordinated efforts of a variety of players both within and
outside the governmental structure.
The Commission thanks Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India for his valuable
guidance and also for having given an opportunity to the Commission to critically examine
this issue. The Commission is also grateful to Shri Shivraj V . Patil, Union Minister of
Home Affairs for his cooperation and help.
Let me quote Mahatma Gandhi once again to highlight the essence of our
recommendations …
“ A technological society has two choices. First, it can wait until catastrophic failures expose
systemic deficiencies, distortion and self-deceptions…. Secondly, a culture can provide social
checks and balances to correct for systemic distortions prior to catastrophic failures”.
The recommendations aim at establishing the synergy and convergence of advances in
the technological and knowledge era with our rich socio-cultural practices and indigenous
coping mechanisms.
New Delhi (M. VEERAPPA MOILY)
September 19, 2006 Chairman
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions
Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances
Resolution
New Delhi, the 31
st
 August, 2005
No. K-11022/9/2004-RC. — The President is pleased to set up a Commission of Inquiry to
be called the second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) to prepare a detailed
blueprint for revamping the public administration system.
2. The Commission will consist of the following :
(i) Shri Veerappa Moily - Chairperson
(ii) Shri V . Ramachandran - Member
(iii) Dr. A.P . Mukherjee - Member
(iv) Dr. A.H. Kalro - Member
(v) Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan - Member
(vi) Smt. Vineeta Rai - Member-Secretary
3. The Commission will suggest measures to achieve a proactive, responsive, accountable,
sustainable and efficient administration for the country at all levels of the government.
The Commission will, inter alia, consider the following :
(i) Organisational structure of the Government of India
(ii) Ethics in governance
(iii) Refurbishing of Personnel Administration
(iv) Strengthening of Financial Management Systems
(v) Steps to ensure effective administration at the State level
(vi) Steps to ensure effective District Administration
(vii) Local Self-Government/Panchayati Raj Institutions
(viii) Social Capital, T rust and Participative public service delivery
(ix) Citizen-centric administration
(x) Promoting e-governance
(xi) Issues of Federal Polity
(xii) Crisis Management
(xiii) Public Order
Some of the issues to be examined under each head are given in the Terms of Reference
attached as a Schedule to this Resolution.
4. The Commission may exclude from its purview the detailed examination of
administration of Defence, Railways, External Affairs, Security and Intelligence, as
also subjects such as Centre-State relations, judicial reforms etc. which are already
being examined by other bodies. The Commission will, however, be free to take the
problems of these sectors into account in recommending re-organisation of the
machinery of the Government or of any of its service agencies.
5. The Commission will give due consideration to the need for consultation with the
State Governments.
6. The Commission will devise its own procedures (including for consultations with the
State Government as may be considered appropriate by the Commission), and may
appoint committees, consultants/advisers to assist it. The Commission may take into
account the existing material and reports available on the subject and consider building
upon the same rather than attempting to address all the issues ab initio.
7. The Ministries and Departments of the Government of India will furnish such
information and documents and provide other assistance as may be required by the
Commission. The Government of India trusts that the State Governments and all
others concerned will extend their fullest cooperation and assistance to the Commission.
8. The Commission will furnish its report(s) to the Ministry of Personnel, Public
Grievances & Pensions, Government of India, within one year of its constitution.
 Sd/-
(P .I. Suvrathan)
Additional Secretary to Government of India