The Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), the premier R&D centre of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Ministry of Communications, Government of India, and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Government of India, jointly conducted an All-India Workshop today here.
The workshop aimed to provide a platform for all stakeholders across India, including Alert Generating Agencies, Alert Authorizing Agencies, and Alert Disseminating Agencies, to discuss their underlying concerns and challenges, as well as to evolve technology-based solutions to address these in an effective manner, amid insightful discussions by a galaxy of experts and technologists.
K Rajaraman, Chairman of the Digital Communications Commission (DCC) and Secretary of the Department of Transportation (DOT), presided over the inaugural session. He urged that all forms of technology be used collaboratively and praised the indigenous initiatives of C-DOT and NDMA in bringing the Integrated Alert System into operation.
He stated that saving lives is the fundamental responsibility of the government, and that the country has made significant progress in this regard. Significant investment has been made in the telecom sector in recent years, and all corners are now connected, so there should be no remote area without an alert mechanism. He emphasised the importance of cell broadcast in both the current network and the upcoming 5G NSA solutions.
According to B. V. Umadevi, Additional Secretary (DM), Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Government of India, bringing all stakeholders together on one platform will be critical in bringing synergy of efforts. She congratulated C-DOT on completing Phase I of the CAP project successfully.
According to Dr. Rajkumar Upadhyay, Executive Director of C-DOT, the CAP-based Integrated Alert System has been implemented in accordance with ITU standards and is in line with the Hon'ble Prime Minister's 10-point agenda. According to Dr. Upadhyay, with the implementation, India has become the sixth country to have a nationwide alert system. He emphasised the diverse capabilities of the indigenous Integrated System, which is driven by collaboration among relevant stakeholders, and he discussed the future roadmap.
According to Kamal Kishore, Member Secretary, NDMA, disasters have no lead time and events are highly localised, so warnings must be location specific, timely, efficient, actionable, and people-centric. States such as Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka praised CAP, saying that it has helped them save lives and take timely action during times of crisis.
NDMA, DoT, Indian Railways, Indian Metrological Department (IMD), Central Water Commission (CWC), Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Defence Geoinformatics Research Establishment (DGRE), Forest Survey of India (FSI), Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), and State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMAs) from 36 States and Union Territories attended the workshop.
C-DOT developed the NDMA's Integrated Public Alert System, which provides a converged platform for the dissemination of targeted alerts and advisories to people living in disaster-prone areas in vernacular languages via all available communication media, including SMS, Cell Broadcast, Radio, TV, Siren, Social Media, Web Portals, and Mobile Applications. This one-stop solution is a tangible step toward achieving the Hon'ble Prime Minister's 10-point Disaster Risk Reduction Agenda.
The system is already in use in 34 states and territories. The system has already sent over 75 million SMS messages in response to various disasters such as cyclones (Asani, Yass, Nivar, Amphan), floods (Assam, Gujarat), lightning (Bihar), and so on. The system was also used to assist pilgrims during the Amarnath Ji Yatra.
