17/09/2021
*Background*
The Civil Defence Policy of the Government of India till the declaration of emergency in 1962, was confined to making the States and Union Territories conscious of the need of civil protection measures and to ask them to keep ready civil protection plans for major cities and towns under the then Emergency Relief Organisation (ERO) scheme. Chinese aggression in 1962 and Indo-Pak conflict in 1965 led to a considerable re-thinking about the policy and scope of Civil Defence. As a result, the Civil Defence Policy as it exists today, was evolved and Civil Defence legislation was enacted in the Parliament in 1968. The country was subjected to further hostile attacks from Pakistan in December, 1971 when the Civil Defence Organisation acquitted itself commendably.
Due to technological advancement in last few decades the environment of the globe has undergone a significant change. The climate change is resulting into many natural disasters with increasing frequency and the changed socio-economic and political scenario has resulted into new emerging challenges to internal security threats. To meet the challenges of the day, the Civil Defence Act was suitably amended by the Civil Defence (Amendment) Act, 2009 by Notification No.3 of 2010, to include the disaster management as an additional role for the Civil Defence Corps, while retaining its primary role.