It was one of independent India’s most ambitious interventions to improve public health but a year since its imposition, most states are yet to implement it, in both letter and spirit.
India’s ban on smoking in public places is yet to take off nationally. Imposed on October 2 last year, only 13 states have started an all out campaign to punish those found smoking in public.
Delhi leads the list of best performing states having challaned 11,362 people and having collected Rs 10.7 lakh in fines. Tamil Nadu fined 10,979 people found smoking in public places and collected Rs 12.63 lakh. In Gujarat, challaning was started from November across all districts. Till now, the state has collected Rs 84,090 in fines.
Chandigarh recorded 1,540 challans and till May this year, had collected Rs 3 lakh. Karnataka till April punished 2,465 people and collected Rs 1.15 lakh while Andhra Pradesh collected Rs 1.4 lakh. Goa challaned 250 smokers and Mizoram 1,173 smokers. Uttar Pradesh collected Rs 3,970 as fine from violators, Jharkhand Rs 9,000 and Punjab Rs 35,000. Kerala has challaned 1,200 smokers while Rajasthan has punished nine violators.
According to the law, those 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 would be fined Rs 200.
“Repeated reminders to many states have fallen on deaf ears. They are yet to start challaning violators, even a year after the law was imposed. Some states have been doing it on a small scale,” a health ministry official said. Tobacco is the risk factor for six out of eight preventable causes of death. India is the second largest consumer and third largest producer of tobacco in the world.
Estimates from the National Family Health Survey III indicated an increasing prevalence of tobacco consumption in India, with 57% males and 10.9% females reportedly consuming tobacco in some form.
Out of this, 32.7% men and 1.4% women are smokers. Prevalence of bidi smoking is around 54% and that of cigarette is 16%. The Tobacco Control of India 2004 report said 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 or other.
The Killer Puff
Millions fail to stub the butt
- 12 million cigarettes will be smoked worldwide every minute every day in 2010.
- Tobacco will kill 250 million of today’s teenagers and children.
- 12% of women worldwide smoke tobacco.
- Over 11 million women countrywide use tobacco in different forms
- Women smokers die an average 8 years before their non–smoking counterparts
- Around 22.9 crore men consume tobacco
- More than 14% of school–going children have taken to smoking
- Smoking expected to kill 10 lakh people in India annually from 2010 nearly 70% of these young people
- To be the primary cause of 20% deaths in men and 5% in women
- For adults: Coronary artery diseases, lung cancer, reproductive effects in women
- For children: Middle–ear disease, impaired lung function, low birth weight, lower respiratory illness, sudden infant death syndrome
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Source: Times of India