Question 1

The Act establishes Urban Disaster Management Authorities (UDMAs) in all major Indian cities including Delhi and Chandigarh.

Accepted Answer

The Act explicitly exempts the National Capital Territory of Delhi and the Union Territory of Chandigarh from the provision to create UDMAs.

Question 2

The National Executive Committee (NEC) has been completely dissolved by the new Act.

Accepted Answer

The NEC has not been dissolved. However, the specific function of preparing the national disaster management plan has been shifted directly to the NDMA.

Question 3

Consider the following statements regarding the Disaster Management (Amendment) Act, 2025: 1. It mandates the creation of Urban Disaster Management Authorities for all state capitals, including the National Capital Territory of Delhi. 2. It introduces a new Section 60A which allows governments to impose a penalty up to Rs 10,000 for non-compliance with disaster risk reduction directives. 3. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) is now directly responsible for preparing the national disaster management plan. How many of the above statements are correct?

Accepted Answer

(b) Only two — Statement 1 is incorrect because the Act explicitly exempts the NCT of Delhi and the UT of Chandigarh from the UDMA provision. Statement 2 is correct; Section 60A introduces a penalty of up to Rs 10,000 for failing to follow directives. Statement 3 is correct; the amendment shifts the responsibility of preparing the national plan from the National Executive Committee directly to the NDMA.

Question 4

Match List I (Body/Committee under the amended DM framework) with List II (Designated Chairperson): List I: A. National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC), B. High-Level Committee (HLC) for financial assistance, C. Urban Disaster Management Authority (UDMA). List II: 1. Municipal Commissioner, 2. Cabinet Secretary, 3. Minister with administrative control over disaster management. Select the correct code:

Accepted Answer

(a) A-2, B-3, C-1 — Under the new statutory provisions, the NCMC is chaired by the Cabinet Secretary. The HLC is chaired by the Minister with administrative control over disaster management. The newly created UDMAs will comprise the Municipal Commissioner as the chairperson and the District Collector as the vice-chairperson.

Question 5

Assertion (A): The Disaster Management (Amendment) Act, 2025 explicitly empowers state governments to constitute separate Urban Disaster Management Authorities (UDMAs). Reason (R): The 2005 Act lacked specialized institutional structures to address the increasing frequency of complex urban disasters like metropolitan flooding. Select the correct answer:

Accepted Answer

(a) Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A — Both statements are true. The 2025 Act introduces UDMAs for state capitals and cities with municipal corporations specifically because the original 2005 framework focused mostly on district-level (DDMA) and state-level planning, which proved inadequate for managing complex, hyper-local urban crises like city floods and heatwaves. Hence, R correctly explains the introduction of UDMAs in A.

Disaster Management (Amendment) Act, 2025 Enforced

26th India-Russia IRIGC-TEC Meeting in Moscow