COVID 19: IS A LEGISLATION IN ORDER?

In the midst of this terrible pandemic that has gripped the whole world, crashed economies and pulverized businesses, it is going to be a challenging task to turn all these unfortunate events and keeping in mind the market reaction and human environment and turn it towards the advantage of the legal fraternity.

Whether or not our laws need a revamp to cater to such national health emergencies is a much bigger question than it was ever before. Continents are on fire and diseases are spreading, businesses are shutting down or working on only 30% staff. People are constantly losing their jobs and the risk of losing the entire businesses itself has become a great issue in terms of franchisees. The nationwide lockdown may have been the key strategy to fight the deadly virus but it has invariably sent all our sectors into a tumbling unprecedented economic loss.

Disaster Management ACT 2005, is the main law that the government, both state and central have been following while mapping out the essentials of this lockdown along with the guidelines issued by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.

On March 24th 2020, The National Disaster Management Authority, set up under the Prime Minister and the National Executive Committee, seen through by the Home Secretary, issued orders that directed the Union Ministers, State Government and Authorities to take necessary actions and protective measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 through clarified guidelines with respect to closure of all educational institutes, workplaces, offices and the types of services that were to be suspended during the lockdown.

However, another major act that was taken as reference was the Epidemic Disease Act (1897) to issue further directions like social distancing and isolation from any and all suspected cases and people returning from abroad, and for them to follow strict home quarantine norms. This also is in reference to letting people have access to only essential commodities and services. An extended lockdown of 21 days followed the initial order in accordance with the directions given by the NEA. In many cities like Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi, police commissioners also imposed Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure court.

Whether or not these measures have been successful in achieving the target is questionable, but the one thing this pandemic and the measures it has forced each person to take is that it has made us question the relevancy of the archaic legislation that has been in power since the colonial era and their efficiency in handling a modern-day crisis. And that has been proved by the government authority’s utter lack of prudence, diligence and competence in providing effective policies catering to 21st-century problems.

Needless to say, there has been a grossly insufficient Union-State coordination considering the fact that both the houses of the parliament were functioning till 23rd March and despite multiple points made with respect to the pandemic situation, the Union Government turned a casual tone towards even drafting COVID-19 specific legislations. As far as the economic impact goes, India’s already crippling economy took a very serious hit and despite the Finance Minister’s announcements made, there is very little clarity with respect to the steps being taken to revive our economy.

Before the pandemic, the Indian businesses were ready to take up any industry and flourish in it due to factors like international trade, government response, support and generally strong and developing nature. With a nominal GDP of $2.94 trillion, India is the world’s fastest-growing trillion-dollar economy and the fifth-largest overall. India was an agro-based nation at one point, but today its service sector is the fastest-growing sector in the world and contributes to more than 60% to its economy and further accounts for more than 28% of the nation’s employment. However, the coronavirus outbreak has damaged the economy like nothing any government or company policy could ever be catered or prepared for. In our case, the Indian economy relies on the limited dependence on exports, high saving rates, favourable demographics, and a rising middle class as its strengths and strategy.

However, Pandemics are at the top national risk-management frameworks and guidelines in most countries and COVID-19 creates the larger and more interdependent economies of the world with massive management dilemmas. COVID-19 has also shown how government failures may involve lack of action (the USA) or over-enthusiastic action (India) by ill-prepared authorities running around trying to maintain or regain control and stability. Where strict and urgent actions are the need of the hour by the leaders of each nation, it would be a fool’s argument that businesses and human society will not be affected with lasting damage.

A business will inevitably face a great hit with both short-term effects and longer-term consequences because at the end of the day no business has ever faced this challenge before. Travel restrictions, quarantines and lockdowns have affected millions across the world and thousands have left factories short of labour in parts and are now testing the endurance of sales across the auto industry, consumer goods and pharmaceuticals. India is going to see a boost in unemployment and starvation all due to the fact that small daily wagers have lost their jobs. Many Asian and African countries lack monitoring, diagnosis, and hospital care capacities to identify, isolate and treat positively diagnosed patients during this outbreak.

Given the whole fiasco that countries like the United States, Italy, Spain, China and India during this pandemic and their rising number of cases, it would be risky to the point of foolishness to try and make either minor changes to our policies and laws or large scale alterations to our legislations without carefully looking at the consequences and effects of the newly formed laws. With this pandemic not showing any signs of slowing down, time is of the essence and being in quarantine while working out on buying more healthcare requirements would be our greatest move. States like Kerala and countries like New Zealand have already seen a massive improvement and for now, keeping people safe is the priority.

Given the fact that despite the SARS, MERS and Ebola outbreak, none of the mighty governments made any sorts of preparation for possible pandemics, there is a chance that once COVID-19 is under control, and the governments will go back to their state of complacency and remain underprepared.

Countries with laws that invest in strategic and financial resilience to approaching global risks of collapsing economies and climate change will be better positioned to take risks and eventually, depending on the preparedness, making large decisions like quick changes and alterations to the laws and their implementation won’t seem like that difficult a task. The decisions must be made by keeping your social responsibilities intact and authorities must look into measures made to assist health care, education and our economy before the 2nd wave hits.