Crowd Management and Political Rallies: Lessons from the Karur Tragedy
UPSC Relevance
Prelims: Disaster Management (Man-made disasters - stampedes/crowd disasters); Indian Polity and Governance (Role of Police in maintaining order, Commissions of Inquiry).
Mains:
General Studies Paper 2 (Governance): Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability; Role of civil services in a democracy.
General Studies Paper 3 (Disaster Management & Security): Disaster and disaster management (crowd management is a specific topic); Various Security forces and agencies and their mandate (role of police in public safety).
General Studies Paper 4 (Ethics): Ethical responsibility of political leaders and public administrators in ensuring the safety of citizens.
Key Highlights from the News
In Karur, Tamil Nadu, 40 people died in a stampede at a political rally held by actor and politician C. Joseph Vijay.
The primary reason for this avoidable tragedy was the lack of effective crowd management.
Key factors that led to the disaster:
Roadshows conducted in dense locations and narrow spaces.
Much larger turnout than projected turnout by the organizers.
Program started hours late, leading to an extreme increase in crowd density in the evening.
Lapses on the part of the organizers and the police.
The article demands that the police should insist that large events like political rallies must only be held in open, spacious venues to avoid such disasters.
The Tamil Nadu government has appointed a commission of inquiry to investigate the incident.
This incident raises serious questions about the social responsibility of political leaders, the administration, and the police.
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