Q. Consider the following statements regarding the State Disaster Response Fund:
1. The central government contributes 90% of the SDRF allocation to all the states.
2. 10% of the funds can be used by the state governments to provide relief in local disasters.
3. The fund is audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India every year.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Exp) Option b is the correct answer
Statement 1 is incorrect. State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) has been constituted under Disaster Management Act, 2005 on the basis of the recommendations of the 13th Finance Commission. The Centre contributes 75% of the SDRF allocation for general category States and Union Territories and 90% for special category States (northeastern States, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir).
Statement 2 is correct. A State Government may use up to 10% of the funds available under the SDRF for providing immediate relief to the victims of natural disasters that they consider to be ‘disasters’ within the local context and which are not included in the notified list of disasters of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Statement 3 is correct. SDRF is the primary fund available with the State governments for responses to notified disasters to meet expenditure for providing immediate relief. It is audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) every year.
