NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
1. Fire safety in India
2. A ground plan for India’s reformed Multilateralism
Theme : Urbanization, Disaster Management, International Relations
Paper : GS - 3, GS - 2
Despite major fires in the past, flagrant violations of building and fire safety norms continue unabated and fire accidents take place with alarming regularity.
National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA): Guidelines by National Disaster Management Authority stipulates fire safety requirements for public buildings, including hospitals along with design guidelines relating to maintaining a minimum level of open space, exit mechanisms, stairs, and evacuation drills.
TABLE OF CONTENT
- Context
- Current Provisions of Fire Safety in India
- What are the Issues
- Causes of Fire Incidents in India
- Road Ahead
1. Fire safety in India.
Theme : Urbanization , Disaster Management
Paper : GS - 3
TABLE OF CONTENT
- Context
- Current Provisions of Fire Safety in India
- What are the Issues
- Causes of Fire Incidents in India
- Road Ahead
Context : Despite major fires in the past, flagrant violations of building and fire safety norms continue unabated and fire accidents take place with alarming regularity.
Current Provisions of Fire Safety in India :
- National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA): Guidelines by National Disaster Management Authority stipulates fire safety requirements for public buildings, including hospitals along with design guidelines relating to maintaining a minimum level of open space, exit mechanisms, stairs, and evacuation drills.
- Fire service is one of the most important emergency response services in the country, which comes under the 12th schedule of the Indian Constitution dealing with Municipal functions.
- The National Building Code (NBC) of India, 2016: Published by the Bureau of Indian Standards, NBC is a “recommendatory document”, and state governments are expected to incorporate it into their local building by laws, making the recommendations a mandatory requirement.
- Model Building Bye Laws, 2003: Under Modern Building Bye Laws 2003, fire clearance is the responsibility of the Chief Fire Officer at each point. The concerned Development Authority must provide the building plans to the Chief Fire Officer for clearance purposes.
What are the Issues :
- Lack of Vulnerability Analysis: Due to poor regulation and enforcement of National Building Code 2016, lack of vulnerability analysis buildings leads to urban fire as vulnerability directly affects preparedness, response, and recovery.
- Lack of Proper Electric Insulation: Polyurethane foam (PUF) used for plastic insulation is highly flammable due to its proximity to electrical wiring that, when heated due to overloading or short circuit, immediately catches fire.
- Lack of Uniform Fire Safety Legislation: According to Accidental Deaths & Suicides in India report 2020, a total of 11,037 cases of fire accidents were reported in the country during 2020. Despite that there is no uniform legislation regarding fire safety in India.
- Natural and Climatic Causes: Natural weather phenomena like lightning, extreme heat with low humidity cause fires in urban areas.
- Absence of Smoke Management and Emergency Lighting: Because high-rise buildings often contain large enclosed spaces or voids, even a small fire can become a fire hazard due to the lack of smoke management and warning mechanism through emergency lighting.
Causes of Fire Incidents in India :
- Violation of safety norms and lack of standardization and regulation is a major cause of fire accidents , as large scale construction of false roofs in commercial buildings and multiplexes is against the national building construction code.
- High rise buildings are more prone to fire accidents as they lack adequate in-built fire protection systems that makes salvaging operations difficult.
- Poorly stored goods, even though they are not flammable, help to spread fire and hinder fire fighters gain access to the seat of the fire or reduce the effectiveness of sprinkler systems.
- Unclear provisions of fire safety audit in terms of scope, objective, methodology and periodicity of a fire safety audit.
Road Ahead :
- Modernisation of Fire safety equipment: the government should provide financial support and assistance in augmenting and modernizing the fire departments
- Proper designing of electrical fittings and regular maintenance of wiring (at least once in a year).
- Building awareness among citizens about fire prevention and protection measures by organizing a fire fighting workshop once in six months in localities/mohallas/schools with the involvement of local councils/elected representatives.
- Fire service departments should audit critical fire prone installations (like high rise buildings, multiplexes in congested areas) periodically (once in six months) and take appropriate actions against erring establishments.
2. A ground plan for India’s reformed Multilateralism.
Theme : International Relations
Paper : GS - 2
TABLE OF CONTENT
- Context
- UNSC
- Fault Lines of UN
- India’s Multilateral Engagements
- Repairing Security Council
- Road Ahead
Context : India’s call for a structural overhaul of global multilateral institutions incorporates institutional accountability and a wider representation of the developing countries.
UNSC :
- The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the organs of the United Nations and is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security.
- Its powers include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of international sanctions, and the authorization of military action through Security Council resolutions; it is the only UN body with the authority to issue binding resolutions to member states.
- Members: The Security Council consists of fifteen members. Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, and the United States—serve as the body’s five permanent members. These permanent members can veto any substantive Security Council resolution, including those on the admission of new member states or candidates for Secretary-General.
- The Security Council also has 10 non-permanent members, elected on a regional basis to serve two-year terms. The body’s presidency rotates monthly among its members.
Reform of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) encompasses 5 key issues:
- Categories of membership,
- The question of the veto held by the five permanent members,
- Regional representation,
- the size of an enlarged Council and its working methods,
- The Security Council-General Assembly relationship. There is also a proposal to admit more permanent members.
Fault Lines of UN :
- China’s aggression in the South China Sea, the Indo-Pacific region, and now increasingly globally, have also underscored the limitations of UN-style multilateralism. China’s growing dominance could lead it to carve its own multilateral matrix circumventing the West, economically and strategically. The international isolation of Russia and Iran as well as increasing the United States’ Taiwan-related steps could usher in these changes more rapidly than expected.
- China’s unabashed use of veto power against India continues at the UN. In the most recent case, it blocked a joint India-U.S. proposal at the UN to enlist Sajid Mir, a top Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative involved in directing the 2008 Mumbai attacks, as a ‘global terrorist’.
- Consistent with the changing times, India’s call for reform of the UNSC has grown in the past few years. In this regard, Mr. Jaishankar’s hosting of a ministerial meeting of the G4 (Brazil, India, Germany and Japan) holds special significance.
- UN-led multilateralism has been unable to provide strong mechanisms to prevent wars. The shadow of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war has loomed large over several deadlocks in UNSC resolutions since the war broke out in February this year. With the West boycotting Russia, the veto provision of the UNSC is expected to reach an even more redundant level than in the past. As such, a reformed multilateralism with greater representation could generate deeper regional stakes to prevent wars.
India’s Multilateral Engagements :
- IBSA (India, Brazil and South Africa
- BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa)
- Quad (Australia, India, Japan, the U.S.)
- Trilateral formats, such as India-France-Australia, India-France-the United Arab Emirates and India-Indonesia-Australia
- India-CARICOM (Caribbean Community)
Repairing Security Council :
- At the core of India’s participation in the 77th General Assembly is the call for a ‘reformed multilateralism’ through which the United Nations Security Council should reform itself into a more inclusive organization representing the contemporary realities of today. India’s call for this structural overhaul of global multilateral institutions incorporates institutional accountability and a wider representation of the developing countries.
- The COVID-19 pandemic was a weak moment for UN’s multilateralism. It highlighted the UN’s institutional limitations when countries closed their borders, supply chains were interrupted and almost every country was in need of vaccines.
- Countries of the global South, including India, which stepped up through relief efforts, drug distribution and vaccine manufacturing, have created space for a more inclusive UN, particularly through its Security Council (UNSC) reform.
- India’s emphasis on reinvigorated multilateralism coincides with a critical juncture in the UN-led multilateralism. Just as burden-sharing has become integral to evolving multilateralism between regional countries, the UN could integrate such practices within its institutional ambit.
Road Ahead :
- Reforming UNSC: As former UN secretary general noted that “No reform of the UN would be complete without reform of the Security Council”. Therefore, equitable representation as well as expansion of the UNSC is the desired reform that India envisages.
- Engaging With Other Multilateral Forums For UN Reforms: Possible solutions to reform UN finances can be establishing a ‘reserve fund’ or even a ‘world tax’.
- Also, in order to make UNGA more effective, India can propose a bicameral parliamentary assembly framework for UNGA.
- Balancing National Interest and Multilateralism: The primary objective of India’s present multilateralism should be to ensure its territorial integrity, especially at a time when China has adopted aggressive posture on the border.
- Here, India can leverage multilateralism to serve India’s interests. Like aligning with Quad countries or working with mechanisms like FATF to mount pressure on Pakistan to stop supporting cross-border terrorism in India.