|
It has been a year since former Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss put his foot down about smoking in public and made it a punishable offence. But, neither has there been an effective ban nor has the awareness programme brought about any significant change among smokers
India is the second largest consumer and third largest producer of tobacco in the world. The Tobacco Control of India 2004 report states that more than 0.8 million people die due to tobacco consumption every year. There are studies to indicate that approximately 40% of the disease burden in India is associated with some form of tobacco intake. Despite the startling figures, a ban on smoking in public places still has to take off nationally. Imposed on October 2 last year, only 13 states have embarked on an all-out campaign to punish people found smoking in public. Even the much-talked-about pictorial warnings on cigarette packs have failed to register anything more than a cursory glance from smokers because the depictions fail miserably in terms of clarity and quality, says the Institute of Public Health (IPH). According to India’s anti-smoking law -- the Control of Tobacco Products Act -- people caught smoking in public places (hospitals, amusement centres, restaurants, courts, educational institutions, libraries, public conveyances, railway stations, workplaces, shopping malls, cinema halls, discos, coffee houses, pubs and restaurants) could be fined up to Rs 200. But a health ministry official says repeated reminders to many states have fallen on deaf ears. They are yet to start pulling up violators. “We can bring in laws and legislations, but in the end the actual enforcer is the general public and it is they who have to understand the risk that they are putting themselves in,” health and family welfare department principal secretary I R Perumal says. According to the guidelines of the smoking ban, police officers, food inspectors, excise inspectors, gazetted officers of state and central governments, teachers, lecturers, professors, bank officers and doctors are authorised to prevent smoking in their respective areas and impose a penalty if required. Estimates from the National Family Health Survey 3 indicate an increasing prevalence of tobacco consumption in India, with 57% of males and 10.9% of females reportedly consuming tobacco in some form or other. Of these, 32.7% of men and 1.4% of women are smokers. The prevalence of bidi smoking is around 54%, and cigarettes 16%. Delhi seems to be leading the country in enforcing the anti-smoking law. In reply to a right to information (RTI) application filed by the Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI), the Delhi government said it had fined 46,531 people and institutions between October 2, 2008, and early-September 2009. The RTI reply from the state government added that earnings from fines in Delhi were around Rs 4 million. Though Delhi is the number one state in terms of fining the most people, it is Tamil Nadu that has earned the most -- over Rs 12.6 million -- by fining 10,979 offenders both in the individual and institutional categories. Karnataka earned Rs 1.15 million by fining around 2,500 offenders, and Mizoram fined around 1,200 people for violating the smoking ban. Rajasthan does not appear to be taking the regulation seriously as it fined only nine people between October 2008 and April 2009. Uttar Pradesh is second last on the list -- it fined only 21 offenders. Source: The Indian Express, October 2, 2009
Mail Today, October 2, 2009
http://sify.com, October 2009
|
