{"id":110739,"date":"2024-05-28T20:35:35","date_gmt":"2024-05-28T15:05:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/?post_type=editorial-analysis&#038;p=110739"},"modified":"2024-05-29T11:02:04","modified_gmt":"2024-05-29T05:32:04","slug":"fire-outbreaks-in-india","status":"publish","type":"editorial-analysis","link":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/editorial-analysis\/fire-outbreaks-in-india","title":{"rendered":"Fire Outbreaks In Delhi And Rajkot, A Criminal Abdication"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><b>Context<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Two <\/span><b>devastating fire incidents<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in less than 12 hours, which have snuffed out lives, many of them children, including, most heartbreakingly, newborns at a<\/span><b> pediatric hospital in Delhi, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">are reminders of the shockingly low priority accorded to basic safety measures in Indian cities.<\/span><\/p>\n<table style=\"width: 100.274%;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th style=\"width: 100%; border-style: solid; border-color: #000000; background-color: rgba(184, 165, 217, 0.53); text-align: left; vertical-align: middle;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Relevance For Prelims:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/current-affairs\/fire-safety-standards-in-india\/\"> Fire Safety Standards In India<\/a>, National Building Code, <a href=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/ncert-notes\/fire-control-measures\/\">Fire Control<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/editorial-analysis\/new-sense-of-urbanisation\/\">Challenges In Urban Development In India<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><b>Relevance For Mains: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Analysis of Fire Safety Mechanism in India.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><b>Fire Outbreaks in India<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Failure in Fire Preparedness:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Fire Preparedness is a <\/span><b>well-developed discipline<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in most parts of the world.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Yet outbreak after outbreak in the<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> last three decades has highlighted the failure to learn from it and bring it into the <\/span><b>design of public spaces, housing apartments, hospitals, commercial and office complexes.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Recent Fires:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The emerging details of recent fire at a <\/span><b>Rajkot indoor gaming centre<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> evoke a terrible d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The centre did not have a <\/span><b>no-objection certificate<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from fire safety authorities, it had only one route for entry and exit and welding work was underway during business hours.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Judicial Involvement<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: The <\/span><b>Gujarat High Court <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">has taken suo motu cognisance of the tragedy and asked the state government as well as the <\/span><b>Rajkot, Surat and Ahmedabad municipalities<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to submit a report on the functioning of gaming centres in these cities.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Government Investigation:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> A <\/span><b>Delhi government investigation<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> into the cause of the fire that claimed <\/span><b>at least six lives<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the early hours of Sunday is also underway.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><b>Justice must be served<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the two cases but it&#8217;s time that larger failures that lead to avoidable fatalities are addressed.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Significanct Cases:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Buildings in the country continue to be <\/span><b>tinder boxes <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">despite the all too similar conclusions of past investigations &#8211; be it the<\/span><b> Uphaar Cinema tragedy in Delhi in 1997<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or the<\/span><b> Bengaluru residential complex blaze of 2010<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the <\/span><b>Kamala Mills inferno of 2017, Kolkata&#8217;s AMRI hospital fire in 2011<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or outbreaks in hospitals during the Covid pandemic.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"vc_button\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pw.live\/batches\/upsc?utm_source=seo+upsc+batch&#038;utm_medium=seo+upsc&#038;utm_campaign=seo&#038;utm_id=upsc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Enroll now for UPSC Online Course<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><b>Fire Safety Mechanism<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>National Building Code: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Part four of the <\/span><b>National Building Code,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> which runs into more than 80 pages, has detailed directions on how to prevent fire hazards.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Fire Safety Rules:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Many states, including <\/span><b>Delhi and Gujarat<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, also have their own fire safety rules.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Fire Safety Operations:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Bu<\/span><b>t fire safety operations<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> fall under municipalities, a tier of governance whose <\/span><b>weaknesses have multiplied<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in recent times.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Inspections: Inspections are weak<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and, at best, once-in-a-few- years exercises.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This means that very often it requires a tragedy to <\/span><b>uncover flagrant violations.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Infrastructure:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> A<\/span><b> FICCI-Pinkerton study of 2018<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> flagged that urban India has less than 40 per cent of the fire stations it needs.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Lack of Modernisation:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Two years later, the <\/span><b>15th Finance Commission<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> underlined the need to modernise the country&#8217;s firefighting infrastructure.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Over-Population:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> A rapidly urbanising country, with <\/span><b>closely packed population <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">clusters, cannot continue to pay short shrift to fire safety.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><b>Conclusion<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><b>Addressing systemic failures<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in fire preparedness and <\/span><b>enforcing strict safety regulations<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> are crucial to prevent avoidable tragedies and ensure public safety in rapidly urbanizing areas.<\/span><\/p>\n<table style=\"border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 100%;\"><b>UPSC Mains Practice Question: <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/mains-answer-writing\/critically-assess-the-effectiveness-of-the-fire-services-act-in-india-what-measures-can-be-taken-to-improve-the-infrastructure-and-equipment-of-fire-departments-across-india-15-marks-250-words\/\"><span style=\"font-family: var(--list--font-family); font-size: inherit; background-color: var(--global--color-background); color: var(--global--color-primary);\">Critically assess the effectiveness of the Fire Services Act in India. What measures can be taken to improve the infrastructure and equipment of fire departments across India? (15 Marks, 250 Words)<\/span><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<table style=\"width: 100.247%;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr style=\"height: 36px;\">\n<td style=\"width: 5693.91%; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; border-style: solid; border-color: #000000; height: 36px;\" colspan=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><b>Must Read<\/b><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 30px;\">\n<td style=\"width: 54.4983%; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; border-style: solid; border-color: #000000; height: 30px;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/ncert-notes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NCERT Notes For UPSC<\/a><\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 5639.41%; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; border-style: solid; border-color: #000000; height: 30px;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/daily-current-affairs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">UPSC Daily Current Affairs<\/a><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 30px;\">\n<td style=\"width: 54.4983%; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; border-style: solid; border-color: #000000; height: 30px;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/blogs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">UPSC Blogs<\/a><\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 5639.41%; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; border-style: solid; border-color: #000000; height: 30px;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/editorial-analysis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">UPSC Daily Editorials<\/a><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 30px;\">\n<td style=\"width: 54.4983%; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; border-style: solid; border-color: #000000; height: 30px;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/quiz\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Daily Current Affairs Quiz<\/a><\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 5639.41%; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; border-style: solid; border-color: #000000; height: 30px;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/mains-answer-writing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Daily Main Answer Writing<\/a><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr style=\"height: 30px;\">\n<td style=\"width: 54.4983%; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; border-style: solid; border-color: #000000; height: 30px;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/mains-previous-year-papers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">UPSC Mains Previous Year Papers<\/a><\/strong><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 5639.41%; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; border-style: solid; border-color: #000000; height: 30px;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/upsc-test-series-courses\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">UPSC Test Series 2024<\/a><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two devastating fire incidents in less than 12 hours, which have snuffed out lives, many of them children, including, most heartbreakingly, newborns at a pediatric hospital in Delhi, are reminders of the shockingly low priority accorded to basic safety measures in Indian cities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"paper-wise":[],"subject":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/editorial-analysis\/110739"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/editorial-analysis"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/editorial-analysis"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110739"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/editorial-analysis\/110739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110777,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/editorial-analysis\/110739\/revisions\/110777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110739"},{"taxonomy":"paper-wise","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/paper-wise?post=110739"},{"taxonomy":"subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/subject?post=110739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}