Current Affair 1:

Context: On 02 July 2024, a tragedy occurred during a religious gathering in the Hathras district of Uttar Pradesh for Bhole Baba. A Stampede killed at least 121 people, mostly women, during a ‘Satsang’ led by self-styled godman Suraj Pal, also known as ‘Bhole Baba’, in Fulari village, Uttar Pradesh.

What are stampedes?

Mass gatherings, from vibrant festivals to spirited sports events, have a magnetic pull, drawing crowds in numbers that transform spaces into seas of humanity. The World Health Organization defines mass gatherings as assemblies of more than a specific number of people at a designated location for a particular purpose over a set period.

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), a division of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, is responsible for documenting crimes and unnatural deaths nationwide. Since 1996, the NCRB has been collecting data on stampede incidents across India.

The all-India data on stampede incidents from 1996 to 2022 indicate a total of approximately 3,935 such cases. The year 2022 marked the second-lowest number of stampede cases recorded, with 6 incidents, while 2018 had the lowest with 5 cases. In contrast, 2009 witnessed the highest number of stampede cases since 1996, with 1,532 incidents reported.

According to the NCRB’s report titled ‘Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India,’ the number of deaths caused by stampedes spanning from 2001 to 2022 reveals that a total of 3,074 lives have been lost due to stampedes in India. Of these, 2,169 (70%) were men and 900 (30%) were women.

Examining the regional distribution of fatalities due to stampedes, four states—Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu—account for half of the total deaths since 2001.

Jharkhand leads with 454 deaths, followed by Maharashtra with 393, Andhra Pradesh with 391, and Tamil Nadu with 266.

 

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