WARNING FALLING
ON DEAF EARS
Smoking ban just
on paper, only 13 states started drive
Kounteya Sinha |
TNN
New Delhi: 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.
Around 50% of all cancer deaths in the country are due to
tobacco consumption. According to a recent study published in
Journal of the American College of Cardiology, smoking bans can
reduce the number of heart attacks by 26% per year, particularly
among young individuals and non-smokers.
“Hotels having 30 or more rooms and restaurants having seating
capacity of 30 persons or more had to create a separate enclosure
for smokers and a separate ventilation arrangement as per the Act.
Many have done this. However, workplace smoking continues,”
another official said.
At present, nine lakh people, nearly 2,200 per day, die every
year in India due to tobacco related diseases.
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 Worry: Growing Risk For Women, Kids
Over 11 million women
countrywide use tobacco in different forms
Women smokers die an average
8 years before
their nonsmoking counterparts
Around 22.9 cr 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
Perils Of Second-Hand Smoking Remain
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