The Minister of State for Home Affairs Shri Kiren Rijiju inaugurated the Special Centre for Disaster Research at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) here . Speaking on the occasion, Shri Rijiju said that the Centre was conceived three years ago and has now taken shape into a multi-disciplinary Centre that will offer Masters and Doctorate programmes in Disaster Risk Management (DRM). He lauded the JNU for taking an initiative in this regard and hoped more educational institutions will come forward to conduct specialized studies in DRM. He said that this day marks a new beginning in DRM in line with the 10-point agenda for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) given by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi during the Asian Ministerial Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) last year. Shri Rijiju said India’s leadership in DRR is recognized in the Asian region.
Underlining the fact that India is a disaster-prone country and disasters will only grow in intensity and frequency, Shri Rijiju said DRM education should be integrated into the educational institutions’ curriculum to give a fillip to the culture of disaster preparedness.
On the occasion, Shri Rijiju also released the book ‘Disaster Law, Emerging Thresholds’ by Prof. Amita Singh, first Chairperson of the new Centre. He also launched the website of the Special Centre for Disaster Research.
The Launch programme was a part of two-day (26th and 27th October) Seminar being organised by JNU on ‘Disasters and Community Resilience in the Northeastern States’. The focus of the new Centre for the first year will be the northeastern states.
The Director of Human Resource Development Centre & Director, Internal Quality Assurance Cell, JNU, Prof. Atul Kumar Johri, Additional Secretary, MHA and Executive Director, National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM), Shri Bipin Mallick, Chairperson, UGC, Prof. V. S. Chauhan and senior officers of MHA, NIDM and NDMA were also present on the occasion.
The NIDM signed an MoU with JNU on August 06, 2015 in the presence of the MoS (Home) Shri Kiren Rijiju. The MoU advocated that the two institutions should strengthen academic institutions for a much wanted research on disasters.