KICKING THE HABIT IN THE BUTT

Smoking ban in public places in India comes into effect today. So law enforcement officers will now have more muscle to pull up the casual smoker in the streets, to warn him initially for a few days (to make it known that they mean business) and then later on, to impose a fine. So essentially it is the death knell for the habit in India, to a large extent. There will be a big hue and cry from the smokers no doubt, but India is already lagging behind in enacting strict tobacco laws. In many western countries, tobacco products can not only be not advertised commercially, but public display of cigarette brands in stores can fetch a fine. Not to mention cigarette cartons are 50% covered by health warnings. And did I mention the expense? Cigarettes in Canada for instance are at least 10 times costlier than India. The public smoking ban is already in effect long back in many countries.

Anbumani Ramadoss, our health minister, can take a pat on his back for his strong anti-tobacco lobby. He was even snapped personally distributing pamphlets to the general public to create an awareness of the ill effects of cigarettes. Stars like Amitabh Bacchan and Shahrukh Khan have had a tiff with him; but Shahrukh has a point: why ban smoking in public places? If you want to really curb the problem, then ban the sale of cigarettes altogether.

But our government can’t and won’t do that. Ironically while there is a strong anti-tobacco drive, India has something called THE TOBACCO BOARD ACT, 1975, which has a strong presence today. Among other purposes, this board aims to work towards “planned development of tobacco industry in India.” A few livelihoods are affected, for sure- like that of the vendor, the ashtray maker… but they are blinded into oblivion by the might of the goodness that this move will bring.

Now there will be a few debates as to which areas constitute “public” and which are private. How effectively this law will be enforced is another thing altogether. Smoking being such a widespread habit, equally among the law enforcers and the general public, it will be interesting to see how policemen with a smoking habit react to this. In a lighter vein, my friend once gave a traffic constable ONE CIGARETTE as a “bribe” to let him off a minor traffic violation!

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