This premier training institute in the sphere of Emergency Relief - National Civil Defence College (erstwhile Central Emergency Relief Training Institute) was established at Nagpur as a sub-ordinate training establishment of the Ministry way back in 1957, as part of the erstwhile Emergency Relief (ER) Scheme to develop human resource for disaster relief and management in the country. In 1962, the training curriculum of the college got a Civil Defence twist and in 1968, after the enactment of CD Legislation, the college was rechristined as National Civil Defence College.

Located on Temple Road, Civil Lines in Nagpur in the old Assembly Rest House No. 2 and adjoining building, the College is imparting training 18 different courses in Civil Defence and Disaster Management and Intervention.

During 2001 the college projected 25 courses imparting training to 1262 trainees. During 2002, the college has projected 25 courses, imparting training to 1226 candidates. Since the inception of the college in 1957 upto 31st December, 2002, the college has so far trained 35,930 trainees including 8 overseas students from Philippines, Nepal, Malaysia and Mynamar (Burma).

Recent, the Ministry of Forest and Environment has identified NCDC, Nagpur as one of the premier training establishment for chemical disasters. Office of Federal Disaster Agency (OFDA) of USA in collaboration with USAID and ADPC, Bankok, Thailand has also selected NCDC, Nagpur as one of the advanced training centre in India for search & Rescue (SAR).

During the year 1997-98, the college received the Rajbhasha Award/ Shield for effectively implementing official language scheme of the Government. The College had also prepared 12 service wise training manuals, all of which have already been printed. A developmental scheme for the up-gradation of the college was studied by an Expert Committee, the final report of which has been submitted to the Ministry for consideration.