In India, the infection of covid-19 is increasing rapidly. On Tuesday, 227 new positive cases were reported in the country.
At this time, more than 1600 people have been infected in the country and the death toll has reached 38.
Amid the ongoing lockdown in the country, a message is being spread rapidly on WhatsApp.
The message claimed, “The Disaster Management Act is coming into force in the country from tonight. It will be applicable across the country. According to which no ordinary citizen other than government departments can write posts related to corona virus on social media platforms.
Neither can share. There is a provision of punishment for doing so. Do not forward any message or joke related to Corona virus from April 1. If this happens, the arrest of the group administrator will be under section 68 … 140 and 188. “
Actually, not only from April 1, but also the announcement of the nationwide lockdown of the Prime Minister, as well as the Disaster Management Act 2005 was enacted.
This notification of the Government of India states, “Disaster Management Act 2005 is being imposed using the power found under section 6 . Now the Ministries, Departments, State Governments and Authorities of the Government of India are being given national Disaster Management Authority orders have to be obeyed so that the transition to covid-19 can be stopped by making social distancing effective. “
Can nothing be written about the corona virus as soon as this Act comes into force? To know the fact of this claim, it is important to understand what is the disaster management act after all?
The Disaster Management Act was implemented in December 2005. This is a national law that is used by the central government so that a country-wide plan can be made to deal with a disaster.
There is a provision for the formation of a National Disaster Management Authority under the second part of this Act. Whose President is the Prime Minister. Apart from this, it can have a maximum of nine members whose elections are held on the suggestion of the Prime Minister.
Under this, the central government has the right to take action against those who do not follow the instructions given. Under this law, state governments have to follow the centrally made scheme.
The most important thing about this law is that the National Disaster Management Authority can take action against any state official as well as the officer of private companies for not following the orders.
This law can be used in the event of a natural disaster and a human-caused disaster.
In the beginning of the month of March, the Government of India enacted the Epidemic Disease Act 1897, created in the 123-year-old English rule.
This law was made by the British in February 1897 to control the plague epidemic that was spreading in the then Bombay city.
In this, the British government had the power that it could ban the mobilization of more people anywhere in the country. The same law was used in the year 2018 during the spread of cholera disease in Gujarat.
Since this law allows the state governments to make new rules, given the nature of the epidemic, the state governments have to decide what new rules and regulations they want to make in their state to prevent the outbreak of the epidemic.
In view of the crisis of covid-19, the Central Government enacted the Disaster Management Act 2005 of 21 days lockdown so that the central government can implement a plan with all the state governments across the country.
It is clear that the Central Government has implemented the Disaster Management Act 2005 in the country, but apart from the claims being made in the message, it is applicable not from April 1 but from March 25.
And this law has absolutely nothing to do with forwarding social media posts or messages related to corona to the common citizen.
However, being a responsible citizen, it would be better to refrain from sharing any unauthenticated information given the severity of the corona virus epidemic.
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