In the TEDx Kanke Webinar Series titled ‘The Rise of a New World’ the speaker for the 14th session on July 4 was Director General (DG) of National Disaster Response Force SN Pradhan and the talk was titled ‘Future of Disaster Management in India’.
The series, which began on May 2, is slated to have speakers from the fields of technology, innovation, leadership, creativity and art and culture of national and international acclaim. The sessions are being streamed live on the facebook page fb.me/tedxkanke20.
“The aspect of disaster as a function of governance has not been mainstream for a very long time first in the world and then certainly in India. That it is a government function and has to be met as disaster happens or as it develops or before it develops was never a mindset, especially about maybe two decades ago. Things have changed and now we have got our act together to an extent. Going by the focus on disaster response especially by the present government and in the last decade, it should go well in the future as well,” said Pradhan.
“The future of disaster response in India goes from recovery to resilience in a networked world. In the past disaster response as a subject was with the Agriculture Ministry. In the present day, the government has decided to meet the disaster before it happens and also as it happens. It has become a part of the national security infrastructure and that is why it has moved from the Agriculture Ministry to the Home Ministry. This is a very symbolic movement which is both response centric before, during and after a disaster,” added Pradhan.
“Why a networked world because disasters don’t know borders and impact across communities and countries. In a digital world the networking has to be much more complete and comprehensive. The implication can be seen in the Covid challenge as one cannot have a vaccine which is country centric. It could be something that starts in a country but will be multiplied once it succeeds. It will eventually be a world template,” said the speaker.
“Disasters have happened, will happen and can happen to all of us. To be disaster ready one must be prepared that it can happen to anyone. One cannot be circumspect enough vis- a- vis disaster and must assume that it can happen to anyone as only then will one be in the disaster ready mindset. There is a lot of gap which needs to be covered and we are not yet in the disaster ready cultural mindset. It is always wise to be disaster ready as a country. In a networked world only a collaborative response will work,” remarked Pradhan.
“Lot of good technology is now pitching in and we are amongst the best countries building that kind of a future where we have the capability of predicting a disaster as it happens or well before it happens. Presently, there is a convergence of technology and expertise happening. In the case of Cyclone Amphan, NDRF team could tell the people exactly what time will it land and the exact path it is going to take,” said the DG.
Rajeev Gupta curator of the event said, “Whenever there is a crisis, there is hope. The idea behind TED is ‘Ideas Worth Spreading’ and with that in mind TEDx Kanke Webinar series has been started to connect great speakers from various spheres with local communities to seek a deeper understanding of ourselves and our changing world and to inspire ideas and action for a better future for us all. The lockdown and social distancing has inspired us to take the event online and reach out to more and more people, keep them inspired, positive and be ready for the new world post Covid-19.”
The organizing team for the series includes Kanishka Poddar, Kanika Malhotra, Kailash Manjhi, Pravin Rajgadhia, Bijendra Sharma, Rashmi Saha, Priti Gupta and Santosh Sharma.
