In Serbia, protests over a railway building collapse in November, 2024 which killed 15 people and severely injured two now threaten the stability of the nation. Students and other citizens have been demonstrating in ever-growing numbers since the accident over two and half months ago, claiming that the direct causes were shoddy construction, inadequate oversight and corrupt officials who profited in the process.

Most of us have lost track of how many people in India have been murdered in schools, hospitals and apartment complexes which had violated multiple code requirements and yet were allowed to admit students, patients and residents. Officials are paid off, inspectors turn a blind eye, contractors choose profit over safety.

Murder is a strong term, but the correct one. Refusing to follow or to enforce the National Building Code is a crime. When the result is the deaths of innocent people, those responsible are murderers. Students in Serbia have gotten it right and they are well on the way to toppling the government.

India needs a similar groundswell. Movements based on a specific, detailed document like the National Building Code have a chance of succeeding because of the Code’s apolitical nature and and its concrete requirements: there is nothing vague about the correct dimensions of a stairway, the width of doorways or the number of emergency exits a building has to have.

India’s National Building Code is massive, detailed and a revolution waiting to happen. You can’t argue with an inspector whose weapons are a tape measure and a calculator. Don’t even try.