Role National Disaster Response Force plays in India

Teams of rescuers from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), in their orange uniforms, are now a familiar sight at most of the natural calamities or man-made disasters in India. The NDRF was raised in 2006, initially with eight battalions, and now has 12 spread across the country.

Daily Current Affairs Quiz 2020

Key-Points

Parliament passed the National Disaster Management Act in 2005 which paved way for establishing Disaster Management Authorities at the national, state and district levels, setting up the National Disaster Response and Mitigation Funds, and formation of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).

Each battalion, which has a sanctioned strength of 1,150 rescuers, caters to particular states as their areas of responsibility. Battalions are divided into rescue teams which are self-contained emergency response units with specialist search and rescue groups, engineering, technical, electrical experts along dog squads and paramedics.

NDRF functions under the purview of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and is headed by a Director General.

The NDRF gets personnel and officers on deputation from the CAPF for a period of seven years. After serving their tenure, personnel go back to their force. Currently, NDRF has battalions staffed by personnel from the CRPF, BSF, CISF, ITBP and SSB.