India is highly vulnerable to floods and out of the total geographical area of 329 mha, more than 40 mha is flood prone. Floods are recurrent phenomenon, which cause huge loss of lives and damage to livelihood system, property, infrastructure and public utilities. It is a cause for concern that the flood related damages are showing an increasing trend. The average annual flood damage during the last 10 years (1996-2005) was Rs. 4745 crore as compared to Rs. 1805 crore, the corresponding average for the last 53 years. This can be attributed to many reasons including rapid increase in population and urbanisation coupled with growing developmental and economic activities in the flood plains and global warming. From the past experience, it is observed that though the various Expert Committees/ Working Groups headed by eminent dignitaries have made several useful recommendations/ suggestions, these have mostly remained unimplemented, which is a cause of concern. These guidelines have highlighted those recommendations and actions required to be taken on them.