English

English > Current Affairs > Archive by region > Asia & Pacific

India's smoking ban: dead on arrival

By our correspondent Cees Gravendaal*

02-10-2008

As of today, 2 October 2008, India's 120 million smokers will be faced with a general smoking ban. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare placed ads in all major papers: "Smoking in public forbidden". However, even though a majority of the population supports the ban, it is not expected to change anything.

For more articles on smoking bans already introduced in other parts of the world, see the related stories listed below

Smoking is now illegal - not only in public buildings, on buses and trains, in bars, restaurants, hotels, theatres and cinemas, but also in stadiums and at stations and bus stops. Businesses are also obliged to enforce the ban. The same law forbids owners and operators of restaurants, bars and cafes from providing ashtrays, matches, lighters or candles for their customers.

Fines
In the Indian capital New Delhi, which is home to more than 16 million people, enforcing this part of the law is an impossible measure, because frequent powercuts mean that entrepreneurs in the catering sector are regularly forced to use candles to light their establishments. Violations of the smoking ban carry a fine of 200 Indian rupees, the equivalent of over three euros. If the law is flouted in a privately owned business, the fine can amount to 5000 rupees, or 7 euros and 50 cents per employee caught smoking.

India's tobacco industry and the Union of Hotel Owners have filed a joint lawsuit against the smoking ban with the Supreme Court. The Court will hand down its ruling in November, but the introduction of the ban was not postponed.

Unprecedented luxury
India has no limitations of any kind on the sale of tobacco products. Cigarettes can be bought on every street corner, per one or per pack. For most Indians cigarettes are an unprecedented luxury they could never afford on an average daily wage of around two euros. Instead, they use chewing tobacco of a widely varying composition. The middle and upper classes, around 1.2 billion people or 30 to 40 percent of the population, almost exclusively smoke cigarettes.

The cigarette trade is rife with imitation brands and smuggling. Street sellers offer filter cigarettes for as little as two rupees, or three eurocents each. As of 1 December cigarette packs must feature a health-warning sticker - a measure intended to support the smoking ban. The health minister hopes that one year from now 40 percent of all packaged tobacco products will feature a health warning. There are also plans to make the increasing amount of young smokers aware of the health risks. The government intends to launch an anti-smoking campaign at schools.

Opinion polls
A number of newspapers have published opinion polls on the smoking ban, showing that 80 to 90 percent of the population supports the measure. Educated Indians know that one in ten natural deaths is the result of a smoking-related disease. The Indian government uses figures provided by the World Health Organisation. At the same time, the media quote smokers who say they will ignore the smoking ban.

Walk into any government office in this tropical country, and you will find workers standing under a cooling fan smoking their cigarettes. And everywhere you go hands holding burning cigarettes can be seen sticking out of moving buses and trains.

Red light
In addition to police officers and inspectors, government officials at least one rank above a police officer can also take action against people smoking indoors. However, India is a country where even the most elementary traffic safety rules are routinely ignored. Motorists run red lights en masse, even though small groups of police officers man every major intersection. Safety belts and safety helmets are compulsory, but only taxi drivers are ever inspected.

There is an enormous lack of law enforcement in all sectors of society, which is why the smoking ban will prove to be a dead letter. On buses and trains, the ban will have some effect because of the disapproving glances of fellow passengers, but smoking in cafés and bars will continue unabated. Local police officers, some of them while smoking, will visit discos, bars and restaurants, just like they have always done, to collect their customary tip to ensure "pleasant cooperation" in the district.

Detoxification
The health minister has announced that over the next two years, at least 100 detox clinics will be set up for smokers. The country's 275 university hospitals and 600 district hospitals will be obliged to offer detoxification programmes. The number of smokers is still increasing in India. Tobacco advertisements have been restricted, but are allowed in and near sales points.

* RNW translation (gsh/sf)

 

Tags: India, smoking ban, tobacco industry, World Health Organisation

Reaction(s):

A. Chhatterjee, 06-10-2008 - India

If there is no place for smoking informed to the public where should they go. If smoking is injuries is cheaving gutakhas healthy alternative? Better to ban the cigarette manufacturing companies.

---

Dick Udell, 02-10-2008 - USA

This new draconian law will only provide organized crime with excellent opportunities for rapid expansion as did Prohibition did during the 1920s in the USA! This is a further propegation of the great, world wide 'Smokescreen' protecting the real polluters, industrialists, automobile manufactuers, and the oil companies! It is a known fact that if you tell a lie long enough and loud enough, everyone will believe it! Only a complete idiot would believe that smoking out of doors would adversely effect peoples health!

---

jasmin, 02-10-2008 - India

2 October was chosen for the ban as it is the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, who was against addictions of all kinds. It is true, that the ban will remain largely on the paper and very few smokers will quit smoking. Though there might be reduction in public smoking due to disapproving glances. There are three types of people: people who learn from the mistakes of others ; people who commit the mistake and learn and lastly the people, who commit the mistake but never learn. So only the first category of people are going to benefit mostly. In my own practice, I have been successful in helping smokers quit but after a lot of persuasion and scare of cancer of the mouth, but how long they remain quitters, isn't known. But it is a welcome move by the government, in a country, where many states thrive on the revenue of tobacco.

---

---

Copyright Radio Netherlands Worldwide 2009 Disclaimer