An up-to-date legal framework will ensure there is no misuse of police power and human rights are protected. India can't tackle next pandemic with a 19th-century law.
A city in northern China has reported suspected cases of bubonic plague this Saturday. The disease killed about 12 million in India when it occurred in 1896.
While govt is using Disaster Management Act and 1897 Epidemic Diseases Act in tandem to tackle the coronavirus outbreak, experts say India needs a modern public health law.
The Epidemic Act was enacted to crack down on people — cart-drivers, sweepers, cleaners — who fled municipal limits in the aftermath of the 1896 bubonic plague.
The Disaster Management Act, 2005, and the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 are innovative, but they still fall short of comprehensibly dealing with outbreaks.
Indians tend to fuss more about the damage done to the Indian psyche by Thomas B Macaulay’s infamous Minute of 1835, but he was preceded in this unholy endeavour by James Mill.
A govt official said that although ATF prices for domestic market had been expected to rise 100 per cent in April, increase was moderated to 25 per cent to cushion burden on domestic passengers.
It’s easy to understand why the government can’t speak the hard truth. When this war ends, as all wars do, India’s interests will lie with both the winner and the loser.
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