About SDRF

• State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) constituted under the Disaster Management Act 2005 is the primary fund available with the State Government for responses to notified disasters. 
• The Central Government contributes 75% of SDRF allocation for general category States/UTs and 90% in North-East and Himalayan States.    
• The annual Central contribution is released in two equal installments as per the recommendation of the Finance Commission.
• SDRF shall be used only for meeting the expenditure for providing immediate relief to the victims.
• The accounts of the SDRF shall be audited annually by Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG).
• Disasters covered under SDRF: Cyclone, Drought, Earthquake, Floods, Tsunami, Hailstorm, Landslide, Avalanche, Cloud burst, Pest attack, Frost and Cold wave.

Local Disaster

• State Government may use up to 10% of the funds available under SDRF for providing immediate relief to the victims of the natural disaster considered to be “Disaster” within the local context in the State and which is not included in the notified list of disaster of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Why in News?

• • The Tamil Nadu government has declared heat waves a state-specific disaster, allowing it to provide immediate relief to those who suffered health problems due to severe heat in April and May.

• Qualitatively, heat wave is a condition of air temperature which becomes fatal to the human body when exposed. Quantitatively, it is defined based on the temperature thresholds over a region in terms of actual temperature or its departure from normal. 

Now, the government can use the State Disaster Response Fund for this purpose. It was previously unable to do this because heat waves are not considered natural calamities in the list of disasters notified by the Centre.