The Government announced plans to have Disaster Management Volunteers (Aapda Mitras) in 350 districts of the country.
Apda Mitra Scheme is a Central Sector Scheme that was launched in May 2016. It is implemented by National Disaster Management Authority.
The programme aims to identify suitable individuals in disaster-prone regions who can be trained to be first responders in times of disasters.
Under the expanded scheme, more than one lakh young volunteers from 350 districts will be trained.
Need for Expansion: So far, the Aapda Mitra scheme was only implemented on an experimental basis in 30 flood affected districts in 25 states and only 5,500 Aapda Mitras and Aapda Sakhis have were trained for flood prevention. This number is too small in a country of more than 1.3 billion.
