Rashtriya Barh Ayog (RBA) constituted by the Government of India in 1976 carried out an extensive analysis to estimate the flood-affected area in the country. RBA in its report (1980) has assessed the area liable to floods as 40 million hectares. It was determined by summing up the maximum area affected by floods in any one year in each state during the period from 1953 to 1978 for which data was analysed by the Ayog. This sum has been corrected for the area that was provided with protection at that time and for the protected area that got affected due to failure of protection works during the period under analysis to arrive at the total area liable to floods in the country as per break-up given below: - 

 

Maximum flood affected area from Data for the period 1953-78	34 million ha.
Add Area protected till then (1978)	10 million ha.
Deduct Area flooded due to failure of Protection works which might have Been added in the reported flooded Area	4 million ha.
Total Flood Prone Area in the Country	40 million ha.