June 14, 2022

Covid-19 and Law

Coronavirus disease is an infectious diseases by a newly discovered coronavirus. Most people infected with the Covid -19 virus will experience mild to moderate respiratory illness and recover without regard requiring illness and recover without requiring special treatment. Older people ,and those with underlying medical problems like cardiovascular disease, diabets ,chronic respiratory disease ,and cancer are more likely to develop serious illness.

   The best way to prevent and slow down transmission is be well informed about the Covid -19 virus ,the disease it causes and how it spreads.Protect yourself and others from infection by washing your hands or using an alcohol based rub frequently and not touching your face.

The Covid -19 virus spreads primarily through droplets of saliva or discharge from the nose when an infected person cough or sneeze,so it’s important that you also practice respiratory etiquette .

At this time ,there are no specific vaccines or treatment for Covid -19 .However ,there are many ongoing clinical trials evaluating potential treatments.Who will continue to provide updated information as soon clinical finding become available.

Need a comprehensive law on epistemic in post Covid -19

It has raised a number of challenges across the globe ,practically in different spheres of administration ,border crossings ,health services , civic behaviour , technology diplomacy and so on. Country after country is struggling with the though choice between saving lives vs saving livelihoods. Whether they should place the country under a lockdown ,if so, for what duration ,should the entire country be locked down or only few regions, whether it should be a total lockdown that mirrors a curfew or some esential activities should be exempted .These are some of the questions which are frequently being discussed.In a large and diverse country such as India,the challenges are even more complicated , particular when public health is not a central or even a concurrent subject but purely a state subject.

Entry 6of the List 2 (State list) of the seventh Schedule of the Constitution clearly mention public health and sanitation ,hospitals and dispensaries  However ,a question of public holiday health can’t ,and should not,be discuss in isolation from the broader issue of livelihood of the populace

When India declared a complete nationwide lockdown ,becoming one of the first democracies in the world to opt for this stringent measure,there was a string of criticism and concerns ,all begging one question -was the lockdown necessary?One month later ,with the benefit of hindsight ,everyone not only agrees but also applauds the government’s farsightedness in imposing a nation -wide lockdown .

The lockdown ,however ,doesn’t come without a fair share of problems of its own,the most pertinent is centered around the protection of basic civil rights in this lockdown .People at the bottom of the socio-evonomic pyramid ,especially migrants workers have been the worst hit by the lockdown .Amid the crisis ,one question ,among many , conspicuously ,remains unanswered .How to balance the civil liberties of individuals with the responsibilities towards the vommunity ,state and the country.

In a welfare state ,the State is obliged to protect and promote the economic and social well -being of the citizens on the principles of Equality ,parity and public responsibility .Public responsibility in this context can be understood aptly through the Supreme Court ruling in State of Punjab vs MS Chawla ,where the Court decided that providing the basic healthcare facilities go the citizens falls within the purview of the fundamental rights to life under the Constitution’s Article 21.The verdict is also in resonance with the Siracusa Principles .It is also reflected in the International Covenant on Economic ,Social and Cultural Rights which male it obligatory upon the government to treat patients to the highest attainable standard ,even during a pandemic.

The worldwide disruption caused by the Covid -19 pandemic has resulted in numerous impact on the environment and the climate .The considerable decline in planned travel has caused many regions to experience a large drop in air pollution .In China ,lockdowns and other measures resulted in a 25 per cent reduction in nitrogen oxides emissions ,which one Earth systems scientist estimated may have saved at lest 77,000lives over two months .Other positive impact on the environment include governance -system controller investments towards a sustainable energy transition and other goals realted to environmental protection such as the European Union ‘s seven year € 1 trillion budget proposal and €750 billion recovery plan next Generation EU which seeks to reserve 25%of EU spending for climate -friendly expenditure.

Due to the coronavirus outbreak’s impact on travel and industry ,many regions and the planet as a whole experienced a drop in air pollution .Reducing air pollution can reduce both climate change and Covid -19 risks but it is not yet clear which types of air pollution are common risks to both climate change and Covid -19 .

Watwr quality

In Venice ,water in the canals cleared and experienced greater water flow .The increase in water clarity was due to the settling of sediment that is disturbed by boat traffic and mentioned the decrease in air pollution along the waterways.

Wildlife

Dand for fish and fish prices have both decreased due to the pandemic ,and fishing fleets around the world sit mostly idle.As people stayed at  home die to lockdown and travel restrictions,some animals have been spotted in cities .Sea turtles were spotted laying eggs on beaches they once avoided ,due to the lowwred levels of human interference and light pollution.

Deforestation and regards forestation

The disruption from the pandemic provided cover for illegal deforestation operations .This was observed in Brazil ,where satellite imagery showed deforestation of the Amazon rainforest surging by over 50 per cent compared to baseline levels . Unemployment caused by the Covid -19 pandemic facilitated the recruitment of labourers for Pakistan’s 10 billion Tree Tsunami campaign to plant 10 billions trees the estimated global annual net loss of trees over the spam of 5 years.

Retail and food production

Small -scale farmers have been embracing digital technologies as a ay to directly sell produce ,and community -supported  agriculture and direct -sell delivery systems are on the rise .Beyond benefits to smaller online grocery stores which predominantly sell organic and more local good,weekly grocery deliveries can be a better choice than individual trips to a store .Online grocery shopping has grown substantially during the pandemic.

Litter

As a consequence if the unprecedented use of disponsable face masks ,a significant number of masks were discarded in the natural environment ,adding to the wolrdwide burden of plastic waste.

Legal Challenges

Invasive technology was employed to create lists of persons suspected to the I texted with Covid -19 .Drone were deployed to monitor compliance by quarantined individuals .Samrtphone applications are being used for detection and contact -tracing .One particular application ,Aarogya Setup ,is now required to be download by all persons employed in workplaces which itself is open to legal challenges.

In the puttaswamy judgement of 2017,it was held that to sustain a privacy restricting action the state had to show the restrictions were sanctioned by were made pursuant to a legitimate state aim,there exists a rational relationship between the purpose and the restriction and that the state has chosen the least restrictive meaure available to achieve its objective ,all of which are absent in Aarogya Setu.

Supreme Court ruling on health care workers lack of personal protective equipment .The Supreme Court directed the Government to provide PPE to HCWS ,but did not provide for any form of compliance monitoring of its own orders.

Disparate impacts

The lockdown ,with one stroke ,resulted in the closure of all establishment and travel sport .Millions of migrant workers , dependent on daily earnings ,were left with no money due to the loss their livelihoods.With no arrangements to pay for rent for their make -shieft  shelters ,millions were forced to start marching home on foot, undertaking journey of hundred of miles from the major metros to their homes .Some does on the way .Some state government directed workers go be charged criminal ,returned back ,or put up in temporary jails.

In a number of cities ,migrant workers revolted .These revolts were quelled by police action.Gor Indian tourists,business people,and students abroad -mostly upper class individuals -planes were sent to repatriate them ,all at the government’s expense .Migrant workers had no such solace .Just before the lockdown was partially lifted on May 1st 2020,the government arranged for special trains to return migrant workers home.Inyially the workers were made to pay for the train fare,but later the government stated that they would pay the fare .However ,some states cancelled the trains.

Covid-19 was also used to whip up communal hysteria .The press portrayed a sect of Muslims,Tablight Jamaat,being responsible for the virus’s spread.The Government added fuel to the fire.

Domestic violence and sexual abuse of children also increased in the Covid -19 period ,with no practical remedies for the survivors.

Reference

1.https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.coe.int/en/web/human-rights-rule-of-law/covid19&ved=2ahUKEwi9kcjl9pz4AhUuT2wGHcqhDbkQFnoECAgQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1uZjuXyBRTnNThwpsHDZ3I

2.https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.un.org/en/coronavirus/covid-and-rule-law-dangerous-balancing-act&ved=2ahUKEwi9kcjl9pz4AhUuT2wGHcqhDbkQFnoECBkQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0FjZacD6jOj9JpfwwTZJir

Aishwarya Says:

I have always been against Glorifying Over Work and therefore, in the year 2021, I have decided to launch this campaign “Balancing Life”and talk about this wrong practice, that we have been following since last few years. I will be talking to and interviewing around 1 lakh people in the coming 2021 and publish their interview regarding their opinion on glamourising Over Work.

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In the year 2021, we wrote about 1000 Inspirational Women In India, in the year 2022, we would be featuring 5000 Start Up Stories.

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