Question

3."Coronavirus brings focus on
division of power between the
Centre and States".​

Answer 1

Answer:

answer

Explanation:

Several experts want an over-arching central law to deal with similar situations in a quasi-federal democracy where fragmented laws don’t demarcate the roles of the two.

Around three years back, the ministry of health put up for discussion the draft Public Health (Prevention, Control and Management of Epidemics, Bio-terrorism and Disasters) Bill, 2017. The draft Bill mentioned the role and responsibilities of the Centre and states in a medical emergency. The Bill, however, never saw the light of the day.

According to Article 246 of the Constitution, matters related to public order and health are mentioned in the state list. To deal with the fast-spreading pandemic, the central government took recourse to the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 (ED Act), and the Disaster Management Act, 2005 (DM Act). Subsequently, it announced a countrywide lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus, using provisions in the DM Act