Email - janaandolan797@gmail.

com

10 May 2022

To,

The Prime Minister of India,

Subject: Serious objections to the ILLEGAL, UNCONSTITUTIONAL AND ARBITRARY Public Health Bill to be presented in the Monsoon session
and the need for the widest possible public discussion before drafting the Bill.

We have come across the following news sources that a Public Health Bill is going to be taken up by the Government of India during its upcoming
Monsoon Session of Parliament.

Sources:

Indian Express - https://indianexpress.com/article/india/new-health-law-draft-four-tier-system-clearly-defined-powers-7828695

The Economic Times -

https://m.economictimes.com/opinion/et-commentary/view-how-to-not-control-a-pandemic/articleshow/90766526.cms

The Tribune - https://m.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/public-health-bill-aims-to-be-extensive-in-scope-381589

News 18 - https://hindi.news18.com/news/nation/new-national-public-health-act-draft-four-tier-system-clearly-defined-power-4076087.html

While the media houses have got the Bill in preparation for the Monsoon session, it is not shown to “We The People” of India, yet. But whatever
we gather from the media is that it would be the 2017 bill which was placed before the public for pre-legislative comments plus more definition of
lockdown. So, our requests are based on that. Because the government is in the habit of reducing the period or doing away with pre-legislative
processes, we are writing to you in advance.

While we recognize that the Public Health in India is a neglected subject for years and a bill to address the issues is required to implement
measures to improve the health of people, the bill that was drafted in 2017 and the coming bill, appears to be just another tool to increase
Government control and authority over the citizens of the country.

A comprehensive Act that covers the various aspects of health care rights, delivery and related matters has been a pressing need in this country
for a long time. A Bill to that effect was drafted in 2009, but never progressed. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2812745/)

We will address this Bill along with International Health Regulations and the coming WHO Treaty for Pandemic Management because it is
obvious that the draft Public Health Bill 2017 and this new draft are made to fulfill the legal obligations under IHR and the upcoming WHO
Treaty. And that is why the requirements of Indian people, Holistic meaning of Public Health are totally missing from this Bill and no other Bill to
address the health requirements of our country is given priority.

We have serious objections to the contents of this Public Health Bill as follows:

(I) Public Health is not limited to infectious diseases or bioterrorist attacks. Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state
[1]
of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".
Ensuring positive health is the most important task at hand in our country where around 2500 children are dying of malnutrition related
diseases, Almost 50% of people aged 45 years and above have abnormal lung function,
(https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/half-of-people-aged-45-and-older-have-abnormal-lung-function-says-large-study-7135897/)

Infection also affects people whose basic health is compromised. Non-infectious diseases also can be prevented/controlled by a healthy lifestyle.
Just by creating certain schemes like mid-day meals, the problem of malnutrition is not solved as can be seen from following data, prevalence of
wasting in children under 5 years has actually increased from the year 2000 onwards and other parameters (Except Stunting) have not much
improved.

(https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/71300)

Similarly, just by convincing the world to declare Yoga Day, people of this country do not get the opportunity to practice it. Why are there no
perfect mechanisms thought of and implemented to ensure positive health for the people?

Without 1st allocating budget, for these priorities, addressing other socioeconomic, lifestyle issues, creating systems, mechanisms by an Act of
Parliament, whereby positive health can be built for our people, the experience shows that by emulating suggestions given by a simulation
experiment in other countries, we have deteriorated the basic health of people and made them prone to more diseases. For example, more people
died by suicide than Corona in 2020.
(https://www.news18.com/news/india/india-lost-more-people-to-suicide-than-coronavirus-in-2020-shows-ncrb-data-4388651.html)

(II) Oppose any Treaty with WHO: WHO is not an elected body and it is a privately funded organization. Obviously private funders
have their say in the advice WHO gives. Not only giving complete power to any such outside organization is giving up our sovereignty but it will
be the 2nd episode of East India Rule in India.

WHO Pandemic Treaty Does not make Epidemiological Sense:

Pandemics are driven by regional factors. These factors in turn are dictated by geography, climate, population density, demography such as age
profile, health status such as obesity levels, state of health services, urbanization and migration, to name a few. For instance, in spite of similar
guidelines followed by the majority of countries of the world, the impact of Covid-19 differed vastly in continents.

For a disease having 0.05% Infection Fatality Rate, with 67.6% of adult population already having antibodies, and 99.5% of population never
getting any symptoms of Covid in entire Two Years, the vaccination drive of full adult population was started because of WHO advice, when
many Indian Public Health Experts had never advised, lockdown for the whole country, vaccine for below 45 years of age.
(https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/shots-for-18-44-yr-group-was-a-political-decision/articleshow/82812610.c
ms)

There is a mention in the Bill of WHO declaring, “public health emergency of international concern” means an extraordinary event which is
determined, as provided in International Health Regulations (IHR) of the World Health Organization (WHO);” (In Chapter 1, 2. (z)). But review of
that declaration by Indian experts, giving Indian, even different regional conditions and health risk assessments is never mentioned in the draft
Bill, 2017.

Height of ignoring Indian experts and without any transparent public debate came when the vaccine roll out for children, having none
whatsoever risk from Covid, was started, just because it was given in other countries, in spite of a clear NO from NTAGI. Waste of public money
for injecting a substance whose long-term safety data is not known and even short-term data cannot be relied on with such a small sample size
during Trials.

The health requirements, priorities of all countries are different depending on the climatic, cultural, economic and demographic conditions.
Imposing western models on our country in spite of Globalization is Medical Imperialism and has proved damaging to our country.

The signing of IHR after SARS CoV (2003) was uncalled for, as a so-called highly infectious virus had infected 8098 persons worldwide and totaled
774 deaths, in the country of its origin, China - 5327 cases and 349 deaths. It was believed to have started in Nov, 2002 and with all the
international traffic, the world came to know a few cases elsewhere also by March 2003.

But signing WHO Treaty and to formulate a Public Health Act on the basis of such international guidelines will be suicidal.

Role of WHO was exposed during the Swine Flu. “In a strong indictment of the World Health Organization, a report prepared for the Council of
Europe has said WHO wasted large sums of public money by raising unjustified fears of a “pandemic that never really was” and expressed concern
over the influence of the pharmaceutical industry on the decisions taken by it regarding the H1N1 virus outbreak.”

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/6013135.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
“National governments, WHO, and EU agencies had all been guilty of actions that led to a “waste of large sums of public money, and unjustified
scares and fears about the health risks faced by the European public,” says the report.”

https://www.bmj.com/content/340/bmj.c3033.full

“The step is a long-overdue move to public transparency of a "Golden Triangle" of drug corruption between WHO, the pharma industry and
academic scientists that has permanently damaged the lives of millions and even caused death.”

https://healthcare-in-europe.com/en/news/european-parliament-to-investigate-who-pandemic-scandal.html

Independent inquiries in the Corona pandemic can establish the truth in future. But right now, it is very clear that WHO guidelines for our
country have not been in sync with Indian Reality. And such inquiry with large scale public participation in an open transparent way is the
primary requirement before bringing any Public Health Act focussed solely on infectious disease.

To give WHO guidelines as an overriding factor by way of an Act and not giving any mention of local experts’ advice, wide scale feedback from
every corner of the country is inviting disaster.

(III) During the Epidemic or Pandemic: Even for endemic diseases affecting our country, we will have to have a clear definition of
an epidemic, that is at least more than 2 standard deviations above last three years data. Upper control limits must be clearly published in the
public domain. Chapter II,3, there is no mention of which experts or health departments will be consulted by authorities at all levels.

Even after declaring a pandemic/Epidemic, the blunders done during the Covid-19 management have to be consciously avoided.

a. As soon as an outbreak of infectious disease is suspected, the Government of India / applicable State Government must facilitate
studies on whether the disease is infectious or not.
b. Do not use any test kit that is not fully authorized / not fully approved, peer reviewed, Test kit should be indigenous i.e. not outsourced
to a foreign entity, the testers should not have a conflict of interest on the outcome of the study, conducted in a radiation free environment,
c. The above study must be completed on an emergency basis but within one month of the outbreak of the suspected epidemic /
pandemic.

During the period the above study is in progress, government

a. Will not restrict movement of asymptomatic people.

b. Will recommend but not force the public to take containment / preventive measures

If within one month the above study is not completed or does not conclude that the disease is infectious then;

a. All the orders passed by government authorities regarding the suspected outbreak of disease become null and void.
b. No opportunity to ask for more time to complete the study.

If the study in point 1 concludes that the disease is infectious but the test kit that is released for the detection of the disease is still in the approval
phase, then the Government will;

a. Not isolate / restrict movement of asymptomatic people

b. Not force asymptomatic people to take the test

Even when the test kit becomes fully authorized, Government

a. Will not isolate / restrict movement of asymptomatic people

b. Will not force asymptomatic people to take the test

No measures like mask, distancing, lockdown should be declared as Covid – 19 experiences have produced enough studies that these are
ineffective and harmful measures.

How can such measures be prescribed in an Act without having any scientific proof and in the presence of proofs against it?

“It is not unreasonable to conclude that surgical and cloth masks, used as they currently are being used (without other forms of PPE protection),
have no impact on controlling the transmission of Covid-19 virus. Current evidence implies that face masks can be actually harmful. The body of
evidence indicates that face masks are largely ineffective.”

https://brownstone.org/articles/more-than-150-comparative-studies-and-articles-on-mask-ineffectiveness-and-harms/
(IV) Decentralization: Chapter II, 4, a), gives extraordinary powers to the Center without mentioning any process of consultation with
State experts. India being a vast country, the local impact of any disease, its management keeping in mind local factors are always very different
for different regions. Even the rural and urban areas have different impacts and requirements. If we take the example of Covid-19, with its most
dubious unreliable rt-PCR test, the percentage of population having some symptoms varied from 0.1% in UP to 2.9% in Kerala, but most States
had between 0.2 to 0.7% of people having any symptoms at all.

Treatment protocols should also be decided by the treating doctor with the consent of the patient. No central protocol can be declared as the
condition of the patients are different and the training in the medical colleges are enough for a doctor to decide the line of treatment.

It should be the local bodies in consultation with local experts, not only on government panels but other domain experts with experience and
different opinions, having transparent debates at each level should decide on the severity, impact of any disease and the course of action.

(V) Other Knowledge Systems: India has legally functioning systems of knowledge with glorious past, like Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani,
Siddha, Homeopathy, Sowa Rigpa, Naturopathy, Nature Cure, and Energy Medicine. These systems are working on the principles of Indian way of
life, climate, adapted and developed over years of experience. There are less invasive, less expensive methods to handle many diseases with
better results when these knowledge systems are used. We should take full advantage of these knowledge systems and no allopathy protocol be
imposed on everybody. There should be open, equal opportunity with publication of results transparently for all systems. Citizens should have
the choice to select whatever system treatment they want to have.

There is a need to develop and implement holistic science-based research methodologies as the basis for future medical research studies, which
will scientifically incorporate the entire components that constitute & are involved in the creation, development & maintenance of life & living
phenomena.

There is no rationale in following the dictates of western countries with different population profiles, climate, and other social factors.

(VI) Role of Media: First principle of a public health emergency during a crisis is to reassure the public. Media has played fear mongering
and scared people, calling experts from only one side who would draw the grimmest picture, which ultimately would turn out to be wrong. It
happened during SARS CoV (2003), It happened during Covid-19 (2020-21).

The government will take steps to ensure the press does not sensationalize / fearmonger. These steps include -

a. While giving the number of deaths of disease in question, number of deaths because of other causes must be broadcasted along with.

b. Broadcast the number of deaths during the last week and the number of deaths because of similar disease during the corresponding week of
the previous five years. The public can compare these numbers to determine if there is a real pandemic.

c. Broadcast the number of hospitalizations during the last week and the number of hospitalizations during the corresponding week of the
previous five years.

d. Experts having different opinions must be called upon during any debate on TV, Newspaper.

(VII) Human Rights: Human Rights must be respected at all costs. And it should be widely publicized that people can refuse testing,
vaccines or any other measures taken for Public Health by Government authorities.

Chapter II, 3, k) says that authorizes any official or person to enter and inspect, without prior notice, any premises where a public health
emergency has either occurred or is likely to occur.

The above provision can lead to abuse of Human Rights at ground level.

There cannot be any forced testing of asymptomatic people. In any case, in a fast-spreading disease as was found during Covid-19 when you test
and detect one person with positive results, the other 30 to 90 are missed. The whole concept of asymptomatic people being declared cases, and
asymptomatic persons can spread the disease is not having any proof. Without open scientific debates showing evidence, 72,000 crores of public
money spent on testing with a test kit that is not diagnostic of a disease.
Chapter II,3, f) If any State Government or administration of Union Territory or any district or local authority is of the opinion that a public
health emergency has arisen or is likely to arise, it may, by order, conduct medical examination including laboratory examination of, and provide
treatment, vaccination or other prophylaxis to any person or class of persons exposed to or suffering from or suspected to be suffering from any
such disease as may be stated in the order.

No forced injections of any drug, experimental or otherwise, can be ordered. Because citizens have the Right to refuse treatment, preventive, or
curative treatment. Patients’ right to choose the treatment from any medical system must be respected at all times. There is no mention of with
whom the authority will have consultation and take decisions. During the Corona episode we have seen the adverse effects of this
non-transparency.

Our Rights to Informed Consent and Confidentiality have been violated by giving vaccines without proper information about risk of Corona
versus risk of Vaccine. Also asking for vaccine status is violation of Confidentiality Right, as described in the Charter of Patients Rights’.
https://www.thebetterindia.com/158829/patient-right-hospital-law/

Chapter V, 9. (1), 10, 11 say that: No court shall take cognizance of any offense under section 3, section 4, and section 5 of this Act except with the
previous sanction of such officer as may be prescribed. No suit, prosecution or other legal proceedings shall lie against any person for anything
which is done in good faith or intended to be done in pursuance of this Act or any Rule or Order made thereunder.

The provisions of this Act shall have an overriding effect over any provision in any other Law for the time being in force.

The above provisions are not legal and make the right to approach the court impossible. There cannot be any provision in any Act where all other
basic Rights of citizens are overridden and even approaching court is made practically impossible. This is nothing but a way to declare
Dictatorship in the name of ‘likely’ spread of an infection.

The use of the phrase “likely to arise” is the most irresponsible and dangerous word in the draft Public Health Bill 2017, giving rise to misuse of
the law. The mathematical models and other predictions have largely proved wrong in the Covid-19 situation. In Chapter II,3, the clause says, “If
any State Government or administration of Union Territory or any district or local authority is of the opinion that a public health emergency has
arisen or is likely to arise, it may, by order”, have to go.

Decisions taken in full faith also can be challenged by a Supreme Court ruling and no blanket impunity can be awarded to Public Servants in the
name of good faith.

(VIII) Lockdowns: Last and the most important point to be understood from the whole Covid-19 episode is that the word Lockdown must
go from the vocabulary of any Health Emergency.

Chapter II, 3, m) says among other things, that the State will have power to disseminate such information as deemed appropriate and take such
other appropriate measures in such circumstances including closure of markets, educational and other institutions, and social distancing.
(Emphasis added.)

And therefore, we are presenting valid reasons to never think of lockdown again:

a) Lockdowns are ineffective. In our own country despite all containment measures, with innumerable hardships to people, literally
ruining their lives, the first serosurvey in June 2020 showed that by June 4th, there were already 64 lacs cases in India, infection mortality rate
very low 0.08%, less than seasonal flu. (https://science.thewire.in/.../icmr-seroprevalence.../ ) And as it later came out for whatever reason in
this scientific study also, some facts were hidden which were showing an even larger number of people were actually affected. And therefore, the
IFR was still lower.

https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/how-covid-numbers-were-hushed-up/cid/1792482

b) Lockdowns disrupt the social and economic life of people, especially poor people.
“In a letter written to the Prime Minister earlier this month, the Right to Food (RTF) Campaign has warned that India’s acute post-lockdown
hunger crisis will worsen considerably if the government stops providing additional food supplies under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna
Yojana (PMGKAY) after March 2022. The letter draws from a survey conducted by the Campaign in association with the Centre for Equity Studies
and a number of other networks and organizations in December 2021 and January 2022 across 14 States, which made some startling findings:

66% people stated that their income had decreased compared to the pre-pandemic period

80% reported some form of food insecurity while 25% reported severe food insecurity in terms of having to skip meals, eating less than usual,
running out of food, not being able to eat for a whole day and going to bed hungry due to lack of money or other resources.
41% said that the nutritional quality of their diet deteriorated compared to the pre-pandemic period.

67% could not afford cooking gas in the month preceding the survey.

45% of households had outstanding debt.

https://countercurrents.org/2022/03/let-them-eat-amrit-after-covid-a-pandemic-of-extreme-hunger-awaits-india/

Rural and urban women hit hardest by Covid-induced unemployment

https://countercurrents.org/2022/03/rural-and-urban-women-hit-hardest-by-covid-induced-unemployment/

As another expert, Dr Amitav Banerjee, Prof. and Head, and Clinical Epidemiologist, Department of Community Medicine, Dr DY Patil Medical
College, Pune), has put it,

“Chasing the elusive virus at all costs proved disastrous in almost all countries. An estimated 500 million got pushed below the poverty line
globally. Livelihoods were lost and lives endangered. Domestic violence against women and children escalated. And so did violence against the
elderly, paradoxically the group to be protected from Covid-19.

At the other age spectrum, children experienced negative effects.”

https://www.doublehelical.com/?p=4937

Lockdown measures decrease the immunity of people because of a number of factors, obesity increases in some classes of people and people get
more prone to other diseases.

Countries like Sweden, Belarus, Tanzania and some States in the US never had any lockdowns and performed much better than other countries.
(https://off-guardian.org/2021/03/23/lockdown-one-year-on-it-doesnt-work-it-never-worked-it-wasnt-supposed-to-work/)

WHO had criticized the lockdown during the initial period of Covid-19 spread in China.

c) WHO had refused (https://www.aier.org/article/in-the-asian-flu-of-1957-58-they-rejected-lockdowns/) lockdowns, “The Asian flu

of 1957-58 was a deadly pandemic with a broader reach for severe outcomes than Covid-19 of 2020.” “There were two grounds for this rejection:
lockdowns would be too disruptive, disabling the capacity of medical professionals to deal competently with the crisis, and also because such
policies would be futile because the virus was already here and spreading.”

(IX) Legal objections to the Bill.

This Prospective Bill Contravenes the Indian Constitution

There are grave legal objections to the draft Public Health Bill 2017. It is violative of Article 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India and against the
binding precedents of Constitution Bench in Common Cause Vs. Union of India (2018) 5 SCC 1. Article 13 of the Constitution of India says that the
Government cannot make any law which is violative of Article 21, 14 etc. of the constitution. The proposed Health Bill is violative of Article 7 of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) prepared by the United Nations, which is ratified by the Government of India. It is
also against the provisions of the United Nations, Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights, 2005 (UDBHR). It is against the law of
Informed Consent as has been laid down by the Government of India under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 itself. In this Bill the State wants
to repeal the Epidemic Act, 1897 which means, the State wants to repeal Section 2, which has a provision for granting compensation to every
citizen if any measures such as lockdown, night curfew or restrictions are taken by the State. Hence the Bill which is sought to be presented is
not for the welfare of the public, but for the promotion and profiteering of vaccine companies and the pharma mafia. It is also unconstitutional,
null and void and ultra vires.

An appeal is made to the Prime Minister of India, Chief Justice of India, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health & Family Welfare and
Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW) to ensure the following points are addressed, before presenting the Public Health Bill in the
Parliament:

1. Draft Public Health Bill, to be presented in the Monsoon Session of Parliament as per the media reports, should be available
to Public well in advance for comments and this being a very important issue affecting every citizen’s life, especially after the
experience of Corona episode, a Referendum has to be taken to know the will of WE The People of India.
2. Draft should be rewritten to keep priorities of our country in focus and take the holistic definition of Health as the basis.
3. Any treaty with WHO should never be signed because health has regional factors to affect and the role of WHO is well
exposed during Swine Flu. Sovereignty of our country cannot be compromised at any cost.
4. Lessons of Corona time, as elaborated in the section III, IV, V, VI, VII & VIII of the attached signature petition, have to be
taken into account and corrections given for the draft Public Health Bill, 2017 have to be properly rewritten. And therefore -
 a. Management of pandemic or epidemic should be in a decentralized manner with advice from local experts
not only in the government committees but after having public debates with other domain experts and
concerned citizens.
b. Role of other medical knowledge systems has to be given equal weightage.
c. Media should be strictly instructed not to spread panic and action should be taken if they do it. Because it
has proved counterproductive.
d. Human Rights Violations cannot be tolerated at any cost.
e. Lockdowns and other restrictive measures like vaccine mandates for normal life activities that have
affected people’s lives beyond repair should not be imposed at any time.

With the highest expectation from your august office,

On May 10, 2022, this petition was authored and signed by:

Dr. Maya Valecha, MBBS, MD Dr. Arvind Kushwaha, AIIMS Dept of

(Gynecology), a socio – political activist, Dr. Amitav Banerjee, Prof. & Head, Community Medicine, Nagpur,
Vadodara, Gujarat Community Medicine, Dr DY Patil Med Maharashtra
College, Pune, Maharashtra

Co-signers
Medical & Public Health Scientists, Health Care Practitioners, Advocates, Activists &
Concerned Citizens

Jagannath Chatterjee Dr. Firuzi Mehta Dr. Geraldine Sanjay

Health Activist Homeopathic Physician MBBS, DFM, MD
Bhubaneswar, Odisha Mumbai, Maharashtra Bengaluru, Karnataka

Dr. Khadar Vali, PhD Dr. Gayatri Panditrao Ashutosh Pathak

Millets Expert & Healer Homeopathic Physician Senior Journalist, Qvive
Mysuru, Karnataka Pune, Maharashtra Delhi NCR

Dr. Veena Raghava Dr. Praveen Saxena Malavi Chaudhari

MBBS, DA, Clinical Nutrition (NIN) MBBS, DMRD, FCMT Health & Rights Activist
Bengaluru, Karnataka Hyderabad, Telangana Free Earth Alliance (FEA)
Ahmedabad, Gujarat

Dr. Vijay Raghava Dr. Shaji Varghese Kudiyat Loretta Rodriguez

MBBS (Family Physician) Homeopathic Physician Health & Rights Activist
Bengaluru, Karnataka Kerala Free Earth Alliance (FEA)
Goa
 Prof. Bhaskaran Raman Dr. Anitha Kulkarni Sudha Sundeswaran
Professor, Department of CSE, IIT MBBS, DNB Hyderabad, Telangana
Bombay, Maharashtra Pune, Maharashtra

Dr. Gautam Das Dr. Madhuri Patil Vineet Tiwari

MBBS, Family Physician Ayurvedacharya National Secretary Progressive
Kolkata, West Bengal Mumbai, Maharashtra Writers' Association
Indore, Madhya Pradesh

Dr. Kuldeep Kumar Adv. Sahil Goyal Er. Dr. Mufassil Dingankar
MBBS, MS Rights Activist, Homeopathic Physician
Haridwar, Uttarakhand Bharat Jago Abhiyan, & Mumbai, Maharashtra
Janta Sarkar Morcha,
Gurgaon, Haryana
Kiran Martis
Dr. Lalit Kumar Anande Activist & Healer
MBBS, Diploma in Clinical Research Dr. Rashmi Raut Mumbai, Maharashtra
Mumbai, Maharashtra MBBS, Fellow in Family Medicine
Kolhapur, Maharashtra
Deepika
Colonel (Retd.) Mathew Thomas Teacher,
Vikash Diwan
Health & Rights Activist Delhi, NCR
Bangalore, Karnataka Health & Rights Activist
Free Earth Alliance (FEA)
Gaya, Bihar
Sudipto Bhakta
Activist & Healer
Ashutosh Jani Kolkata
Social Activist, Mayank Pincha
Nisargyan Niramaya Health & Rights Activist
Ahmedabad, Gujarat Free Earth Alliance (FEA)
Bangalore, Karnataka

Adv. Bharat Rao

Ahmedabad, Gujarat