Smoking Ban ??

How many of you habitual smokers followed Union Health Minister Ramadoss’ dictate to give up puffing in public place from Gandhi Jayanthi Day?

It is too early to gauge the popular response to the ban on public smoking. All that I know for sure is that there was a similar ban on public smoking four years ago and it ended up in smoke. Ban or no ban, India remains the third largest market for cigarettes, with an estimated 250 million smokers and an equal number of passive smokers.

Going by the ground realities, the latest order too is bound to meet the fate of the previous ban. In fact, the Govt has not imposed a blanket ban on smoking. The Health Ministry’s order only prohibits smoking in places like restaurants, offices, bars, libraries, malls, trains and buses. Which means, you can continue to merrily puff away at home, in cars, in parks and on streets.

Ban on public smoking is in force in many European countries, some states of US and South Africa. Studies by professional bodies in those countries have reported marked decline in number of heart and lung disease-related hospitalisations after smoking ban came into force.

But do we have the political will to enforce ban on smoking or on such social evils? What happened to prohibition, one of Gandhi’s pet themes? The ban on liquor even on certain specified days of the year is observed more in its breach than in practice. Social drinking, with all its suicidal effect on families, continues to thrive. In some states, the Government itself is into the business of selling liquor and is sustained by excise revenue from sale of liquor.

Could we check prostitution by law? The law against the oldest profession remains on the statue book, but the crime thrives on in gay abandon.

Has the law helped contain the evil of dowry? Child abuse? Has anti-corruption legislation helped curb corruption stalking all walks of life. Has anti-defection law discouraged political defections? Has law helped eliminate untouchability, which is still practised with a vengeance in many conservative societies?

What all these suggest is that certain age-old social evils cannot be removed by law alone. Stringent implementation of law may go a long way in containing the menace, but not to the extant desired. Enforcement of law has to be complimented with a vigorous public awareness campaign against the evils. Mass media like TV with extensive geographic reach can be made us of for such a conscientisation drive. Govt can think of tax credits and other financial incentives for businesses that enact non-smoking policies.

Isn’t it paradoxical that the government that seeks to prohibit liquor consumption promotes its sale through government’s own agencies, the government that bans public smoking patronises tobacco industry by doling out peps?

The fact is the Government is caught between the compulsions of making money and playing the moral cop. Will the government give up revenue from excise duty on tobacco and liquor running to thousands of crores of rupees for the sake of social good?

Unthinkable. So let’s be down to earth. The government does not sincerely wish to curtail consumption of liquor or tobacco. It only wants to assume the moral high ground through half-hearted measures, aimed at hoodwinking the public.

source: windows live article, wikipedia and google