Examine the role of the Finance Commission under Article 280 in shaping India's disaster risk financing framework.

Article 280(3)(c) empowers the Finance Commission to recommend measures augmenting State resources, and successive Terms of Reference have expressly asked it to review financing of disaster management with reference to funds constituted under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 [2]. It is therefore the Commission, not executive discretion, that anchors India's disaster risk financing.

Constitutional and institutional mandate

• The FC converts disaster relief from ad-hoc central grants into a rule-based, predictable transfer, strengthening fiscal federalism [2].
• Its recommendations give statutory funds — SDRF/SDMF — their corpus, cost-sharing and eligibility norms, making State expenditure legally reimbursable [2].

Shaping the architecture over time

• Earlier Commissions institutionalised the response-centric Calamity Relief/SDRF model; the Fifteenth Commission restructured it into response plus mitigation windows, while declining to widen the notified calamity list [1].
• The FC also fixed the 90:10 sharing for North-Eastern and Himalayan States and 75:25 for others, calibrating burden to vulnerability [1].

The FC-XVI shift (2026-31)

• Recommended a corpus of ₹2,04,401 crore for State disaster funds, with the Union contributing ₹1,55,916 crore — a marked increase over the previous award [1].
• Urged adding heatwave and lightning to the notified list; acting on this, MHA issued operational guidelines and informed Parliament in August 2026 that the list rose from 12 to 14, making Heat Wave Mitigation Projects SDMF-eligible [4].
• Moved allocation towards a risk-based index combining hazard, exposure and vulnerability, drawing on commissioned work on closing the disaster financing gap [5][3].

Limitations

• The FC only recommends; notification and release rest with the Union executive.
• Mitigation funds remain under-utilised without credible State Heat Action Plans and absorptive capacity [5].

Thus the Finance Commission has evolved from a relief-apportioning body into the principal architect of climate-resilient disaster finance. Going forward, linking FC-XVI's enlarged corpus to State-level risk assessments and adaptation plans would realise the cooperative-federal promise of Article 280.