DISASTER PREPAREDNESS IN AGRICULTURE IN INDIA                                                                                        By Dr. Ashok Kumar Panigrahi Definition of Disaster The National Disaster Management Act 2005 defines, “Disaster is a catastrophe, mishap, calamity or grave occurrence affecting an area, arising from natural or manmade causes, or by accident or negligence which results in substantial loss of life or human suffering or damage to, and destruction of, property, or damage to, or degradation of, environment, and is of such a nature or magnitude as beyond the coping capacity of the community of the affected area”. It remains to be seen as how are we going to interpret an event when terms like catastrophe, mishap, calamity and grave occurrence      co-exist and will naturally be seen as interchangeable. As if to complicate the matters further, the definition hangs on the … Read entire article »