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Profiteering during a pandemic

Sufferings of people post lockdown

    • Prices of essential items shot up in several places across the country. 
      • For example, even an ordinary mask being sold at Rs. 150 a piece.
    • Private hospitals overcharge patients, even after State governments capped COVID-19 treatment charges. 
      • For instance, a hospital at west bengal was charging Rs. 7,000 a day for the cost of PPEs used by the doctors against the cap of Rs. 1,000 fixed by the West Bengal government. 
    • The cost of medicines too shot up. 
      • In Srinagar, Remdesivir was being sold for as much as Rs. 36,000 against the normal rate of Rs. 6,000. 
  • So what?
    • The poor could not afford the medicine and looked to government agencies for help. 
    • In some places, those who could afford it purchased more than the required quantity leading to shortage.
  • Ambulance owners too chose to make good money in these pandemic times. 
    • For transporting patients up to a distance of about 10-15 km, they charged as much as Rs. 30,000 in Mumbai.
  • Poor migrants who wanted to go home had to spend large amounts to hire vehicles. 
  • Buses operated by private agencies charged exorbitant fares. 

Is there any law to deal with the pandemic?

  • In 1897, the British enacted the Epidemic Diseases Act which empowered the government to implement any measures that would prevent the outbreak or spread of any disease. 
  • According to the law, anyone disobeying the orders of any public servant can be punished under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code. However, this is not enough. 

What is needed the most?

  • A provision ought to be incorporated in the Disaster Management Act of 2005 to make overcharging the public a punishable offence. 
  • Denying admission in hospitals, refusing to bury the dead in cemeteries, etc. also need to be made punishable offences. 
About Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897

  • It was introduced by British government to tackle the epidemic of bubonic plague that had spread in the erstwhile Bombay Presidency in the 1890s.

Key features of the Act

  • It empowers state governments/UTs to take special measures and formulate regulations for containing the outbreak, like inspection of persons travelling by railways, segregation in hospitals etc. 
  • It empowers state to prescribe such temporary regulations to be observed by the public 
  • It provides penalties for disobeying any regulation or order made under the Act. 

Why do we speak about the Epidemics Disease  Act 1897 now?

  • In the absence of any new legislation to fight epidemics, Indian States had to resort to this colonial-era law to manage the outbreak.
  • The law arms the State with emergency powers that allow it to carry out search operations as well as penalise people violating the provisions of the law.

About Disaster Management Act,2005

  •  This Act was enacted in 2005 to provide for the effective management of disasters and for matters connected with it.
  •  To deal with the purposes of this Act, an authority to be known as the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) was established.

Members of NDMA

  •  The Prime Minister of India, who shall be the ex officio  Chairperson of the National Authority,
  • Members, not exceeding nine, to be nominated by the Chairperson of the National Authority.
  • The Chairperson of the National Authority may designate one of the members nominated to be the Vice Chairperson of the National Authority.

Power and functions of National Authority

  • The National Authority shall have the responsibility for laying down the policies, plans and guidelines for disaster management for ensuring timely and effective response to disaster. 

Why does it matter now?

  • The legislative intent of the DM Act was to, “provide for the effective management of disasters”. 
  • The NDMA lays down policies, plans and guidelines for management of disaster.  
  • Similarly, State, District and Local level Disaster Management Authorities were established, manned by high functionaries. 
  • All these agencies are envisaged to work in coordination.
  • NDMA so far formulated 30 Guidelines on various disasters including the ‘Guidelines on Management of Biological Disasters, 2008’. 
  • The 2019 National Disaster Management Plan, issued also deals extensively with Biological Disaster and Health Emergency. 
  • This is the broad legal framework within which activities to contain COVID-19 are being carried out by the Union and State governments.

References:

  1. https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/the-covid-19-crisis-as-a-metropolitan-battle/article32243597.ece
  2. https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/profiteering-during-a-pandemic/article32262912.ece
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