As told to Parliament (July 28, 2026): Centre clears Rs 5,520 crore urban flood management programme for 18 cities
Parliament was informed that the Urban Flood Risk Management Programme has been approved for 18 cities in two phases, with a combined outlay of Rs 5,520.07 crore.
Phase I covers seven cities — Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, and Chennai — with an outlay of Rs 3,075.65 crore; Phase II covers 11 cities, including Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Guwahati, Jaipur, Kanpur, Patna, Raipur, Thiruvananthapuram, Visakhapatnam, Indore, and Lucknow, with an outlay of Rs 2,444.42 crore.
Parliament was also informed of continuing incentive schemes worth approximately Rs 69,873.33 crore across six programmes to promote electric vehicle adoption.
Data presented to Parliament showed women constituted 59.8% of the agricultural workforce in 2025, and gross cropped area expanded from 198.28 million hectares (2014-15) to 225.19 million hectares (2024-25).
Urban Flooding as a Distinct Disaster Category (NDMA Guidelines, 2010)
Urban flooding is treated as a hazard distinct from riverine/rural flooding because urban catchments have very different drainage characteristics — impervious surfaces, encroached natural drains, and dense infrastructure — requiring a dedicated institutional response.
Key Details
- The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), constituted under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 and chaired by the Prime Minister, issued dedicated Guidelines for Management of Urban Flooding in 2010, treating it separately from the general National Disaster Management Guidelines on Floods.
- Key recommendations include catchment-based design of stormwater drainage for every urban local body (ULB), mandatory rainwater harvesting in urban buildings, expansion of Doppler Weather Radar and real-time hydro-meteorological monitoring by the Central Water Commission (CWC), and mandatory pre-monsoon desilting of major drains by March 31 each year.
- Complementing this, the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) has separately supported 838 stormwater drainage projects worth over Rs 3,000 crore across states/UTs.
The newly cleared Urban Flood Risk Management Programme is a dedicated, city-specific capital investment scheme that operationalises the broader NDMA urban-flooding guidelines in India's largest and most flood-vulnerable metros and state capitals.
Gross Cropped Area, Net Sown Area, and Cropping Intensity
Distinguishing these three land-use metrics is essential for correctly interpreting any agricultural statistic reported to Parliament, since they measure different things.
Key Details
- Net Sown Area (NSA) counts each plot of land only once in a year, regardless of how many crops are grown on it; India's NSA is roughly 141 million hectares.
- Gross Cropped Area (GCA) counts a plot as many times as it is sown in a year — so a field growing two crops (e.g., kharif and rabi) is counted twice.
- Cropping Intensity = (GCA ÷ NSA) × 100, expressing how many "crop cycles" on average a unit of land supports annually; national cropping intensity was reported at 155.4% for 2021-22 by land-use statistics.
- The figures given to Parliament show GCA rising from 198.28 million hectares (2014-15) to 225.19 million hectares (2024-25), and cropping intensity rising from 142.2% to 159.7% over the same period — indicating land is being cropped more frequently rather than only through area expansion.
The reported rise in cropping intensity (not just gross cropped area) points to intensification of land use — more multiple-cropping — as a key driver of the increase in foodgrain and horticulture output cited to Parliament.
Feminisation of Agriculture and Workforce Classification (PLFS)
The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), conducted by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) under MoSPI, is India's principal source for workforce participation data, including the gender composition of the agricultural workforce.
Key Details
- PLFS classifies workers by usual activity status into self-employed (own-account workers, employers, and unpaid family helpers), regular wage/salaried, and casual labour categories.
- Rural women's share of self-employed status rose sharply — from about 60% (2011-12) to about 73% (2023-24) — reflecting increasing concentration of women's work in unpaid or informal agricultural roles rather than salaried employment.
- Women earn a markedly smaller share of male earnings in self-employment (roughly a third) compared to salaried work, even as their overall labour force participation has risen.
- The trend described to Parliament — women forming 59.8% of the agricultural workforce in 2025 — is consistent with what is termed the "feminisation of agriculture," linked to male out-migration to non-farm work.
The gender workforce data placed before Parliament is best read alongside land-rights and welfare-scheme access (e.g., joint land pattas, Kisan Credit Card access for women farmers), since a majority-female workforce with limited land ownership has direct implications for agricultural policy design — a recurring GS3/Social Issues theme.
Electric Vehicle Incentive Framework: FAME to PM E-DRIVE
India's EV demand-incentive architecture has evolved through successive schemes, each with a defined outlay and sunset date, which is a frequent source of factual (dates/amounts) questions.
Key Details
- FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles) began as FAME-I (2015) and continued as FAME-II, before its subsidy component wound down by March 2026.
- PM E-DRIVE (PM Electric Drive Revolution in Innovative Vehicle Enhancement) succeeded FAME-II, running from October 2024 to March 2026 with a total outlay of Rs 10,900 crore, split between demand incentives (Rs 3,679 crore, targeting roughly 25 lakh vehicles) and charging-infrastructure support (Rs 2,000 crore, targeting roughly 72,000 new public chargers).
- The Rs 69,873.33 crore figure cited to Parliament aggregates six distinct schemes (manufacturing incentives, demand incentives, and bus payment-security mechanisms), not a single scheme — an important distinction for avoiding double-counting in exam answers.
Parliament's disclosure of a cumulative, multi-scheme EV incentive figure illustrates how India's EV promotion policy operates through several overlapping instruments rather than one umbrella scheme, each with its own sunset timeline.
- Urban Flood Risk Management Programme: Rs 5,520.07 crore total; Phase I (7 cities) Rs 3,075.65 crore; Phase II (11 cities) Rs 2,444.42 crore.
- NDMA Guidelines for Management of Urban Flooding issued in 2010 under the Disaster Management Act, 2005.
- Gross Cropped Area: 198.28 million hectares (2014-15) → 225.19 million hectares (2024-25); cropping intensity: 142.2% → 159.7% over the same period.
- Foodgrain production: 252.02 million tonnes (2014-15) → 376.56 million tonnes (2024-25); horticulture production: 280.98 → 377.77 million tonnes.
- Women's share of agricultural workforce (2025): 59.8%, per data placed before Parliament.
- PM E-DRIVE scheme outlay: Rs 10,900 crore (October 2024–March 2026); cumulative EV-related incentive figure cited to Parliament: approximately Rs 69,873.33 crore across six schemes.