Financial mechanism for the relief expenditure in India: some observations
Abstract
Purpose
This paper proposes to study institutional financial arrangements in India at national, state and district levels for providing relief and rehabilitation to the affected persons during natural hazards.
Design/methodology/approach
India's location and geographical features render it vulnerable to a number of natural hazards such as cyclone, drought, floods, earthquakes, landslides etc. The Government and people have learned a lot of lessons from the past experiences and have developed a financial system to provide relief to affected persons during/after natural disasters.
Findings
For seeking assistance from National Fund for Calamity Relief (NFCR), the concerned State Government is required to send a memorandum, indicating in detail the sectorwise damage, requirements of funds from NFCR etc. Lack of information, in most of the cases, leads to delay in processing the requests of the State Government.
Research limitations/implications
The study is based on the data/information collected for the last ten years (1995‐2005). The period is short for developing any hypothesis but sufficient care has been taken to consider vital factors.
Practical implications
A calamity of rare severity requires a high level of relief assistance from the State. Sound financial mechanism helps the Government to tackle the problem immediately and efficiently.
Originality/value
The study highlights shortcomings in the financial mechanism for relief in India and suggests steps to overcome them.
Keywords
Citation
Pande, R. and Pande, R.K. (2007), "Financial mechanism for the relief expenditure in India: some observations", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 16 No. 3, pp. 353-360. https://doi.org/10.1108/09653560710758305
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2007, Emerald Group Publishing Limited