Centre appoints three experts as NDMA members

 The Centre has approved the appointment of a UN expert, a retired Army officer and a former Coast Guard Director General as members of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), apart from extending member Kamal Kishore's term by another five years.

The names of Krishna Vatsa, Policy Adviser, Disaster Recovery, Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); Rajendra Singh, former Coast Guard DG; and Lt General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd) as NDMA members have been approved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is ex-officio chairperson of NDMA.

The three new members were chosen from a list of over 50 candidates after the Home Ministry had invited applications from subject experts.

The government had scaled down the rank of NDMA members from Minister of State to Secretary in the central government in 2014.

Kishore's fresh tenure would be from the date of assumption of charge, a government order has said.

Kishore has worked on disaster risk reduction and recovery issues for over 22 years at various levels. He was appointed as NDMA member in 2014.

Prior to joining the NDMA, Kishore worked with the UNDP for nearly 13 years in New Delhi, Geneva and New York. At UNDP headquarters, he led the global advocacy campaigns to address disaster risk reduction concerns in the UN's Sustainable Development Goals and the post-2015 development agenda.-IANS