M Shashidhar Reddy, the NDMA Vice Chairman resigned

M Shashidhar Reddy, the Vice Chairman of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on 17 June 2014 resigned from his post. He sent his resignation to Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India, who is also the chairman of NDMA.

Reddy was appointed as a member of the NDMA in 2005 and was promoted to the position of Vice Chairman in December 2010.     

Apart from Reddy five other NDMA members also resigned from their positions and they were
• Former CISF Director-General KM Singh
• Former Civil Aviation Secretary KN Shrivastava
• Maj Gen (Retd) J K Bansal
• Former Director of Bhabha Automic Research Centre B. Bhattacharjee
• Former CBI special director K Salim Ali
Reddy along with all the others who resigned were appointed during the UPA government.
The three members who have not resigned so far are
• Former CRPF Director-General JK Sinha
• Medical expert Muzaffar Ahmed
• Former ocean development department secretary Harsh K Gupta

About National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)
The Government of India on 23 December 2005 enacted the Disaster Management Act, which envisaged the creation of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). It is headed by the Prime Minister, while the State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMAs) headed by respective Chief Ministers. It works to implement a holistic and integrated approach to Disaster Management in India. It is a body that has eight members in which the Vice Chairman enjoys the rank of a Cabinet Minister while other members enjoy the rank of Union Minister of State.

Emergence of NDMA as an organisation
The Government of India (GOI), in recognition of the importance of Disaster Management as a national priority in August 1999 set up a High-Powered Committee (HPC) and a National Committee after the Gujarat earthquake. The Committee was to make recommendations on the preparation of Disaster Management plans and suggesting effective mitigation mechanisms. Apart from this, a detailed chapter on Disaster Management in the form of plan document was available in the Tenth Five-Year Plan for the first time. While the Twelfth Finance Commission was also mandated to review the financial arrangements for Disaster Management.