Early Times Report
NEW DELHI, Sept 10: Union Home Minister Amit Shah asked the agriculture department on Thursday to maintain "permanent preparedness" to deal with locust swarm attacks originating from the Pakistan side. Chairing the third meeting of the governing body of the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM), Shah said the best practices being adopted in other countries to deal with such attacks should be implemented in India. "The Department of Agriculture should focus on permanent preparedness to deal with locust swarm attacks originating from the Pakistan side," he said. Addressing the meeting, which was attended by senior officials from the home ministry, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), the National Disaster Response Force, the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the agriculture ministry, the Delhi University and other central and state government institutions, Shah said the country has seen a comprehensive transformation in both the approach and the methodology of disaster management over the last 12 years, adopting a "zero-casualty" approach and moving beyond an earlier emphasis on relief and rehabilitation. Underscoring the Modi government's goal of building disaster-resilient villages and cities as a priority, he said the new approach rests on three pillars -- risk reduction, early-warning systems and "zero casualty". "We have successfully tackled many disasters with zero casualty, which is a major achievement," Shah said. He called for a "whole-of-government" approach, in which all government departments actively respond when disasters occur. |
