Objective is to improve ability to forecast floods and reduce vulnerability to recurring floods and droughts.
Project:
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NHP was launched by Ministry of Water Resources in 2016-17.
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It is World Bank assisted central sector scheme with pan India coverage.
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It aims at improving extent, quality, and accessibility of water resources information, decision support system for floods and basin level resource planning and strengthen capacity of institutions in India.
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It is expected to take forward the success of the Hydrology Project-I and Hydrology Project-II by covering the entire country, including the states along the Ganga and Brahmaputra-Barak basins.
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Earlier Project-I and Project-II were limited only to large river systems viz. Krishna and Satluj-Beas.
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They had established real-time flood forecast systems to give reservoir managers an accurate picture of the water situation in their region.
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The early forecast had increased the time available for early flood warnings and improved flood management preparation from hours to days, saving hundreds of lives and avoided flood damages of $65 million a year.
Benefits of NHP:
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It will strengthen the capacity of existing institutions to assess the water situation and equip them with real-time flood forecast systems across the country.
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It will help the states monitor all the important aspects of the hydro-meteorological cycle and adopt the procedures laid out in the earlier projects.
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It will help communities to plan in advance to build resilience against flooding and droughts due to uncertainties of climate change.
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It will reduce the vulnerability of many regions to recurring floods and droughts as absence of real-time ground information for the entire country creates difficulties in issuing alerts on time.
NOTE: NHP can be mentioned in answers related to Floods, Drought, Water Management etc.