It was recognized first in China. From there the infection spread to the ports of Bombay, then Pune and at last the capital of British India, Calcutta (Now Kolkata). To control the situation common people are put in quantarine by the law. According to this law, you don't obey the law, you will be beaten by the police. This law was implemented 123 years ago from today.
Laws to prevent epidemics
On that time also the source
of this was China. By 1850, In Yunnan Province, people started to migrate here
for Copper and various types of minerals of this area and the number of people
in the province had reached up to 7 crores. The plague. The development of
transport and Communication systems brought a big danger from outside, the
plague. Plague - carriers Flies and mice entered in China's most populous areas
with men. In the same time, China's older residents and mineral extraction
activities associated with the Hui Muslims were involved in conflict which spreading
the plague further. Then from Guangdong, Guangxi to Canton and from Canton to Chinese
colony, Hong Kong, it spread over and within two months almost one and a half
million people died.
At that time Hong
Kong's trade with British India was at its peak. Plague entered India from Hong
Kong by water. The Bombay was the main port of British India for international
trade. The plague first hit in Bombay in 1896 and then Pune and Karachi of undivided
India. Kolkata was affected last as it was in east. In 1896, Bombay as crowded and
unhealthy. The population in the slums of the city were about 8 lakh 20
thousand. There were so crowd of mill workers without any drainage system and
drinking water facility. Most of them were
migrant workers came from other states for their breads.
During this time some
symptoms were seen among the residents of Nowrozi Hill slum. Many of them
worked in the port and also commuted to the sex workers outside the city.
Foreign sailors in the town also boarded to them first. Severe fever, headache
and vomiting these symptoms were noticed to many people. But due to the fear of
mill owners pay cut, the workers continued their job in factory with illness.
Within some days, the
situation was terrible and the physicians were also confused. One of the
doctors first suspected that the illness was bubonic plague. He observed the
situation in Hong Kong for a long time. His suspicions was right. But it already
spread too much. Those who were able, started to leave the city. To prevent Infection,
police activities started. They searched for the sick and separated to the
plague camp, the suspects were sent to the quantarine. Few areas of the
city were forcefully made empty. Some of the sensitive allegations were arise,
without any female doctors or associates, male doctors or paramedics are
examining the disease with their hands on the girls' bodies. With these the
play of the religion also started. Upper caste people denied to stay quantarine with low
caste man, Hindu-Muslim were not agree to stay together. Quantarined people started to escape which increased the risk of infection. With these police
harassment, beaten, riot, protest also began.
At the end of the 1896,
plague reached Pune, the ancient capital of Maratha Empire. Even there the
common people did not agree to go to the government hospital. People believed
that in the hospital, British doctors extracted one types of oil from their
head and people were dying for this, not for plague. Someone thought that the
plague bacteria was spread by British. The objective was to create British
settlement after killing the country's residents.
Malaria, cholera or smallpox,
many diseases hit the colonial India before plague. But that was different. Instead
of Plague, the fears of the people made it different. All the factories in the
city were closed and the British economy collapsed. British government introduced
some medicines from England. But the
people of the country who have been accustomed to local medicine for so long
did not agree to take new medicine.
Opposition came from other
directions as well. British government
requested physician Sir Hufflin to create vaccines for plague. Huffkin had
previously developed the cholera vaccine. In 1897 the vaccine was made at Byculla
Medical College. He used it first on himself and then the vaccine given to the
Byculla jail accused.
After four months of Bombay
plague outbreak, Empress Victoria ordered the Government to take steps for the prevention
of epidemic. A few days later, the queen's command turned to the law. On 4
February of 1987, “Epidemic Deseases Act”, was passed in Kolkata. The law states
that, whenever a state or any part of the state is affected by dangerous
epidemic fears then the law can be applied. For this, if necessary, a
government official is also given the right to exercise special powers. In
addition, said that, if the government thinks that the country is in dangerous
situation, the transportation, trade and others activities can be stopped.
At the starting of the
act it was stated that the people must abided by the special powers of the
government. Many historians think that providing excessive power to a person or
executive was the another side of the repressive activities of British
government.
But now, neither the
scientific technique nor the modern medicine, this 123 -year- old on the
controversial law is the main tool of government in Independent India to
prevent pandemic corona. This law was used few times in India in Gujarat
cholera prevention, in the Chandigarh dengi and malaria prevent, ever again to
stop swine flu in Pune. But this time the application of this law is more
extensive. Besides West Bengal, this law has already implemented in Delhi, Kerala,
Karnataka, and Maharashtra.
In British India, the law was used as well as oppression
to the colonial people also. In a true democratic country this act should be
modified to ensure the human rights and also amend some articles to remove the
limitations, this is the opinion of law specialist.
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