(a) whether the Government has declared the recent earthquake in the northern parts of the country as a National Calamity;
(b) if so, the details thereof alongwith the benefits extended to affected States thereafter;
(c) the reasons for not declaring the Tsunami as a National Calamity; and
(d) the steps taken by the Government to provide relief and rehabilitate Tsunami and earthquake victims in the country?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS (SHRI S. REGUPATHY)
(a) to (d): As per the Schemes of Calamity Relief Fund (CRF) and National Calamity Contingency Fund (NCCF), there is no specific provision for declaring any calamity as a National calamity. The State Government concerned is the first responder in any natural calamity situation and is responsible for undertaking necessary rescue and relief operations, out of the corpus of CRF, which is contributed by the Government of India and State Governments in the ratio of 3:1. In the event of the natural calamity being of a severe nature, where the funds available in the corpus of State CRF are inadequate to meet the situation, the Government of India supplements the efforts of the State Governments by providing additional assistance from the NCCF, in conformity with the laid down procedure. The Government of India also provides the required logistic support to the concerned State Governments for conducting rescue and relief operations.
In the cases of natural calamities of severe magnitude, the assistance for immediate relief has been provided broadly in conformity with the provisions of the Schemes of CRF/NCCF.
During the Tsunami of December 26th 2004, an amount of Rs. 3644.05 crore was approved (under Rajiv Gandhi Rehabilitation Package for Tsunami Affected Areas) for the affected States of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and UTs of Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Pondicherry for undertaking immediate relief measures. As regards long-term rehabilitation and reconstruction, a Core Group has been set-up in the Planning Commission to consider the sector-wise requirements of the concerned States/UTs.
With regard to the recent earthquake in Jammu & Kashmir, the Government of India released in advance, the second instalment of Central Share of CRF for the year 2005-2006, amounting to Rs. 32.42 crore and an ad-hoc amount of Rs. 100.00 crore from NCCF on 10th October, 2005. Thereafter, in consideration of the magnitude of the natural calamity, the Hon`ble Prime Minister on 11th October, 2005 announced a further assistance of Rs. 500 crore for the earthquake affected areas in Jammu & Kashmir, of which Rs. 200.28 crore has been released as advance from Normal Central Assistance/advance payment of State share of Union taxes/duties.