Crowd Management in India | 30 Sep 2025

For Prelims: Hypoxia, Hypercapnia, NDMA, Disaster Management Act, 2005.                              

For Mains: Disaster management strategies for stampedes, NDMA guidelines, challenges and way forward.

Source: IE 

Why in News?

A campaign rally for a Tamil actor-turned-politician in Karur, Tamil Nadu turned tragic, resulting in multiple deaths and injuries.

What is a Stampede?

  • About: A stampede is a sudden, uncontrolled rush of people or animals, usually triggered by panic, fear, or excitement, occurring in crowded areas and often causing chaos and casualties.
  • Stampede Incidence: The NCRB report ‘Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India’ states that from 2000 to 2022, 3,074 lives were lost in stampedes, with nearly 4,000 stampede incidents recorded over the past three decades.
  • Cause of Death: A major cause of stampede deaths is the “black hole effect.” In dense crowds, physical forces create unpredictable "force chains" between bodies, so if one person falls, it creates a void, causing others to lose balance and fall. 
    • This domino effect leads to a pile-up, where people suffer compressive asphyxia under the weight of others.
    • During a stampede, crushing pressure on the chest prevents proper lung movement, causing hypoxia (low oxygen) and hypercapnia (high carbon dioxide), both life-threatening.

What are the Key Causes and Impact of Stampedes in India?

Causes

Impacts

Immediate Triggers (rumors, sudden obstructions)

Stampedes result in sudden fatalities, severe injuries, and psychological trauma, while also generating grief and anger.

Systemic Failures (underestimating crowd size, poor crowd control, lack of preparedness)

These failures erode public trust in authorities, invite repeated scrutiny of safety protocols, and make it harder to implement sustainable reforms.

Behavioral Factors (panic spread, disregard for norms, star power, political influence)

Behavioral triggers cause uncontrolled crowd movement leading to trampling deaths, spark social unrest, and stigmatize mass gatherings or festivals.

Poor Infrastructure (narrow paths, blocked exits, slippery floors)

Increases the risk of falls and chain-reaction stampedes, causes critical injuries, and leads to economic losses as public participation in events declines.

Fatal Stampede Incidence in India

  • Bengaluru (2025): During the victory celebrations of Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s, a massive crowd near M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru triggered a stampede, resulting in multiple deaths and injuries.
  • Prayagraj (2025): A deadly stampede broke out during the Mahakumbh Mela 2025, leaving several dead and injured as millions of devotees thronged for the ritual bath.
  • Tirupati (2025): A tragic stampede occurred at the token issuing counter in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, resulting in the multiple deaths and injuries. 
  • Hathras (2024): At least 121 people, mostly women and children, died in a stampede during a religious event in Uttar Pradesh.
  • Mumbai Pedestrian Bridge (2017): 22 people were killed in a stampede during rush hour.

What are the Key Recommendations of NDMA for Crowd Management?

  • Pre-Event Planning: Crowd estimation and capacity planning, safe site selection and layout design, and clear route planning with unobstructed entry, exit, and movement paths are essential to prevent stampedes.
  • Structural Safety: Install barriers and railings in zig-zag queues, provide for virtual queue and approximate waiting time, ensure safe entry and exit points with outward-opening wide exits, and maintain effective communication systems and mobile connectivity to manage crowds.
  • On-Ground Management: Implement crowd control and segregation with barricades, manage traffic and parking safely, use real-time crowd monitoring with CCTV and analytics.
  • Building Awareness: Promote public awareness of risks and safe behavior, conduct training and drills for all agencies, and provide clear detailed Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for event management stakeholders.
  • Emergency Response: Provide on-site medical aid, deploy Quick Reaction Teams (QRTs) for emergencies, and establish a clear Incident Command System for swift decision-making.

Global Best Practices in Crowd Management

  • Saudi Arabia: After Hajj stampede, authorities used crowd simulations, restricted entry timings, and improved route planning.
  • United Kingdom: In the UK, Wembley Stadium, London has been designed with multiple exits and advanced evacuation systems to handle 90,000 people safely.
  • South Korea: In response to the Halloween stampede 2022, South Korea has deployed an advanced CCTV-based AI system to monitor crowd density in real time and provide timely warnings.
  • Japan: Japan has implemented timed tickets and staggered entry measures to prevent sudden crowding.

How can Stampedes be Prevented in India?

  • ICT Based Management: Use AI-powered density analytics with CCTV, drone-based aerial surveillance, and mobile network & Wi-Fi heat mapping to monitor crowd size, flow, and bottlenecks in real-time for pre-emptive intervention.
  • Managing Human Behavior: Use visual and sound cues to calm crowds, train staff in crowd whispering to reduce tension, and provide safe spaces and pressure-release paths for emergencies.
  • Build a Culture of Safety: Launch public safe crowding campaigns with influential figures, enforce mandatory organizer certification on crowd management, and use crowd-sourced monitoring via hashtags or apps to report overcrowding.
  • Strengthen Accountability Framework: Enact a Crowd Safety Act defining organizer liability, require independent safety auditors for large events, and implement a national stampede database to learn from past incidents.

Conclusion

Stampedes in India are caused by a mix of triggers, systemic failures, behavioral factors, and poor infrastructure, resulting in high human, social, and economic costs. Effective prevention requires NDMA-compliant planning, crowd management, technology use, public awareness, and accountability frameworks to safeguard lives and ensure safer mass gatherings.

Drishti Mains Question:

Q. Analyze the systemic and behavioral factors responsible for stampedes and suggest a multi-pronged strategy for ensuring safety at large public gatherings.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is a stampede?

Ans: A stampede is a sudden, uncontrolled rush of people, often triggered by panic, fear, causing compressive asphyxia, hypoxia, and multiple deaths.

What are the main causes of stampedes in India?

Ans: Stampedes arise from immediate triggers, systemic failures, behavioral factors  and poor infrastructure.

What are some global best practices in crowd management?

Ans: Countries like Saudi Arabia, UK, South Korea, and Japan use crowd simulations, AI CCTV monitoring, timed tickets, staggered entry, and multiple exits for safe mass gatherings.

What strategies can India adopt to prevent stampedes?

Ans: India can implement ICT-based crowd monitoring (AI, drones, Wi-Fi heat maps), manage human behavior, build a culture of safety, and strengthen accountability through legislation.

UPSC Civil Services Examination, Previous Year Questions (PYQs) 

Mains 

Q. Discuss the recent measures initiated in disaster management by the Government of India departing from the earlier reactive approach. (2020)