Flooded Cities: A Comparative Analysis of Flood Management Policies in Indian states

Abstract

Flooding is a critical issue affecting many countries worldwide with severe consequences on the lives of their residents. In this paper, we conduct a case study of the flood management policies of India by evaluating their implementation in six Indian states that are affected by recurrent flooding every year. The states selected have major cities located near water bodies and have experienced flooding leading to deaths and displacement besides slowing down economic and community development.

We evaluate how each of the states align their policies to the national level disaster management guidelines for flood management. We find that for policies established at the state level, implementation within the various regions can vary with some urban areas going beyond the state and national guidelines. We find that not all Indian states follow the established national guidelines, and this poses questions on the challenges on having uniform flood management policies for addressing a complex issue.