How India inspired Pakistan’s law on disaster management
A senior Indian bureaucrat shared a copy of India’s Disaster Management Act with a Pakistani bureaucrat. What happened next was a cut,copy, paste job which made history in Pakistan’s policy circles.
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The structure, institutional framework, and even the language of the National Disaster Management Ordinance/Act of Pakistan mirror those of the Disaster Management Act of India. The Pakistan Act is structured into eleven Chapters, similar to the Indian Act. Pakistan also adopted a three-tiered institutional structure almost identical to the Indian model, with some nomenclatural changes according to local conditions – NDMA at the national level, SDMA/PDMA at the State/ Provincial level, DDMA/ DDMU at the district level, Advisory Committee at the national level, National Institute of Disaster Management and National Disaster Response Force. The powers and functions of these bodies are almost the same.
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The Pakistan Act, like its Indian counterpart, provides for the preparation of Disaster Management Plans at the National, Provincial, and District levels, with similar intents and purposes. Similarly, the Pakistan Act copies the provisions of the Indian Act on Minimum Standards of Relief at the national level but refrains from endorsing similar provisions at the provincial level.
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