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India to get UN tag of international disaster response force for NDRF

The authorisation will be done by the Switzerland-headquartered INSARAG (or the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group) which is a network of more than 90 countries and organisations under the UN umbrella to deal with urban search and rescue related issues. India could soon be a part of the United Nations (UN) mandated international disaster rescue operations as the country’s federal contingency force, NDRF, is expected to obtain a globally recognised standardisation later this year, a top ranking official has said. The authorisation will be done by the Switzerland-headquartered INSARAG (or the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group) which is a network of more than 90 countries and organisations under the UN umbrella to deal with urban search and rescue related issues.

“Just like we have the Bureau of Indian Standards in the country, the UN agency INSARAG standardises disaster response teams across the world. It is an international gold standard,” NDRF director general S N Pradhan told PTI in an interview.

“We are very much in thick of it and hopefully we will get the standardisation in 2021.”

He further explained the purpose of this categorisation that is possessed by some of India’s neighbours like China and Pakistan.

“If there is a call from the UN to respond to some disaster you will be called upon…you will be an international response force,” Pradhan said.

“It is not that we have not been doing that (going for international rescue operations) but when NDRF went to Japan and Nepal in the past it was a bilateral decision between two countries but with this standardisation it will be a UN mandated task,” he said.It will be a matter of great prestige for India that its force is known as an international response force, the DG said.He said an INSARAG committee, comprising Australian and Singaporean experts, has conducted preliminary review of NDRF teams in September, 2019, but the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic put the process on a back burner for a while.“Hopefully, in 2021 you will see at least two heavy teams of the NDRF notified as INSARAG teams,” he said.

India could soon be a part of the United Nations (UN) mandated international disaster rescue operations as the country’s federal contingency force, NDRF, is expected to obtain a globally recognised standardisation later this year, a top ranking official has said.

The authorisation will be done by the Switzerland-headquartered INSARAG (or the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group) which is a network of more than 90 countries and organisations under the UN umbrella to deal with urban search and rescue related issues.

“Just like we have the Bureau of Indian Standards in the country, the UN agency INSARAG standardises disaster response teams across the world. It is an international gold standard,” NDRF director general S N Pradhan told PTI in an interview.

“We are very much in thick of it and hopefully we will get the standardisation in 2021.”

He further explained the purpose of this categorisation that is possessed by some of India’s neighbours like China and Pakistan.

“If there is a call from the UN to respond to some disaster you will be called upon…you will be an international response force,” Pradhan said.

“It is not that we have not been doing that (going for international rescue operations) but when NDRF went to Japan and Nepal in the past it was a bilateral decision between two countries but with this standardisation it will be a UN mandated task,” he said.

It will be a matter of great prestige for India that its force is known as an international response force, the DG said.

He said an INSARAG committee, comprising Australian and Singaporean experts, has conducted preliminary review of NDRF teams in September, 2019, but the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic put the process on a back burner for a while.

“Hopefully, in 2021 you will see at least two heavy teams of the NDRF notified as INSARAG teams,” he said.

India could soon be a part of the United Nations (UN) mandated international disaster rescue operations as the country’s federal contingency force, NDRF, is expected to obtain a globally recognised standardisation later this year, a top ranking official has said.

The authorisation will be done by the Switzerland-headquartered INSARAG (or the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group) which is a network of more than 90 countries and organisations under the UN umbrella to deal with urban search and rescue related issues.

“Just like we have the Bureau of Indian Standards in the country, the UN agency INSARAG standardises disaster response teams across the world. It is an international gold standard,” NDRF director general S N Pradhan told PTI in an interview.

“We are very much in thick of it and hopefully we will get the standardisation in 2021.”

He further explained the purpose of this categorisation that is possessed by some of India’s neighbours like China and Pakistan.

“If there is a call from the UN to respond to some disaster you will be called upon…you will be an international response force,” Pradhan said.

“It is not that we have not been doing that (going for international rescue operations) but when NDRF went to Japan and Nepal in the past it was a bilateral decision between two countries but with this standardisation it will be a UN mandated task,” he said.

It will be a matter of great prestige for India that its force is known as an international response force, the DG said.

He said an INSARAG committee, comprising Australian and Singaporean experts, has conducted preliminary review of NDRF teams in September, 2019, but the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic put the process on a back burner for a while.

“Hopefully, in 2021 you will see at least two heavy teams of the NDRF notified as INSARAG teams,” he said.

Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan popular film stars, but ‘marginal players’ in politics: Aiyar Aiyar, who has been named in three key panels set up by the Congress for Tamil Nadu polls, asserted that superstar Rajinikanth's decision that he will not enter electoral politics 'will not make a tinker's difference'. Describing Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan as “marginal political players”, senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar has said they remain very popular film stars but are unable to attract public opinion to their point of view in political terms.

Aiyar, who has been named in three key panels set up by the Congress for Tamil Nadu polls, asserted that superstar Rajinikanth’s decision that he will not enter electoral politics will not make a tinker’s difference as the state readies for the assembly polls.

Congress-led protest seeking Puducherry L-G Kiran Bedi’s removal enters Day 3

“She is not allowing the elected government to function and is interfering in day to day administration. People w ill sit peacefully and agitate for at least three days,” the Chief Minister V Narayanasamy was quoted as saying. Protests by the ruling Congress-led Secular Democratic Alliance against Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi entered third day Sunday with the coalition urging the central government to call back Bedi. The coalition alleges that Bedi is not allowing an elected government to function and interfering in daily affairs of the administration, ANI reported.

Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, the lone Lok Sabha Member from Puducherry V Vaithilingam, Congress legislator T Jayamoorthy, leaders of the CPI, CPI(M) and VCK are also participating in the protest.

“Some protesters were seen holding a placard that read “”BEDI You go! You go!