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University, college students to be trained in disaster management
The Union and State governments are joining hands by roping in younger generation from the colleges across the country to give effect to address critical component in Disaster Management strategies.
Hyderabad: The Union and State governments are joining hands by roping in younger generation from the colleges across the country to give effect to address critical component in Disaster Management strategies.
According to sources in the National Council of Rural Institutions (NCRI), the move has come following experiences documented from different natural and man-made calamities. It was found that there was gap of one to two hours for both the State and Central agencies in providing response and rescue during floods and cyclones etc.
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) have formed the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF). In addition, the revenue, agriculture, police and other departments were involved in executing the Disaster Management Plans (DMPs).
However, the hitch identified was the time-gap in reaching out the last mile. It was among the other key issues that the NITI Ayog had discussed formulating ‘youth as change agents’. Then, the Union Ministry of Human Resources Development (UMoHRD) has formulated policies in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Youth Driven and Youth-Led Tomorrow’. Consequently, the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the Hyderabad-based National Council of Rural Institutions (NCRI) have been roped into mainstreaming the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) and Rural Resilience (RR).
Following this, the NCRI had recently held an interactive session on mainstreaming the SFDRR and RR in the curriculum of the State universities. And, it had already signed MoUs with Central Universities located in Hyderabad, Punjab, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka, and other State departments of higher education and universities, said W G Prasanna Kumar, Chairman of NCRI.
As part of the initiative, students at the university and college level will be provided an Add-on case-based course in disaster management. Or, it will be included as part of the curriculum. Besides, the NSS and NCC students will also be taken to the rural areas to stay for about one to two months to provide first-hand training on all aspects of different kinds of disasters. Students of the colleges will be trained on how to reach out to the remote area to rescue people and to provide other help ahead of any help coming from the government agencies.
Since they are well aware of the geographic locations with appropriate training, the government hopes it could cover the last mile in the response and rescue. The students will be provided training to deal with situations like floods, cyclones, earthquakes, droughts and even plans are on to include firefighting in near future, the sources added.
