Repeated cyclones on India's east coast expose gaps in Centre–State disaster financing. Critically analyse the SDRF/NDRF mechanism and suggest reforms.

Under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, States pay for relief from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF). The National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) adds money when a disaster is severe [3]. Cyclone Arnab, a very severe cyclonic storm, hit coastal Andhra Pradesh and southern Odisha in October 2026 [1]. It shows a mechanism that is sound in design but slow and narrow in practice.

Strengths

• Rule-based funding: the money rests on a law, so every State has a relief fund ready before a disaster strikes [3].
• Needs-based top-up: NDRF aid follows a State memorandum and an assessment by an Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) [2]. This checks inflated claims and stops States from simply waiting for the Union to pay.
• Shared burden: the Centre adds to State capacity, which is cooperative federalism in action [3].

Weaknesses

• Assessment lag: the State and the IMCT count the damage separately. Their figures differ, and funds are held up while the gap is argued over [4]. Back-to-back cyclones make the wait longer.
• Narrow norms: aid covers only a fixed list of items at fixed rates. Odisha told the Standing Committee on Finance that major relief items fall outside the SDRF/NDRF norms [3].
• Relief, not resilience: the funds pay for immediate relief, not for rebuilding stronger roads, power lines and embankments. As a result, weak structures are rebuilt and fail again [3].
• Livelihood gap: crop losses are left to PMFBY. There, claims are delayed by late yield data and fund-transfer problems. Bihar and West Bengal have withdrawn from the scheme, and Punjab never joined [5].

Reforms

• Joint State–IMCT assessment within one week of a disaster, as the Ockhi committee recommended [4]. Successive cyclones on the same coast could be assessed in a single visit.
• Publish and widen the norms in advance, so States know what is payable and the items left out are covered [3][4].
• Make a separate Disaster Mitigation Fund operational, with grants tied to rebuilding to a stronger standard [3].
• Revise the funding arrangements through the Finance Commission, using a fresh memorandum from the Ministries of Finance and Home Affairs [3].
• Fix PMFBY: set strict claim deadlines, penalise insurers who pay late and use technology to estimate yields [5].

The SDRF/NDRF system has made relief rule-based and accountable, but east-coast cyclones show it pays for losses rather than for resilience. Joint assessments, wider norms and dedicated mitigation money would turn it into real Centre–State risk-sharing. That would serve cooperative federalism and the Sendai Framework's aim of building back better.