Curb Tobacco Menace

Source from:  centralchronicle.com Wednesday June 4, 2008 06/04/2008

Union government has fulfilled traditional annual formality to celebrate No-tobacco day on 31st May this year also by wasting huge public-money on big newspaper-advertisements with photo-publicity of political rulers. Instead government should be practical to take ultimate step to follow sensible countries like Bhutan and Ireland by imposing a complete ban on manufacture and sale of cigarettes in the country. Smoking is an addiction started out of a hi-fi fashion at the young age when initial puffs even cause discomfort. Another idea can be to impose duty on tobacco-related products including cigarettes and gutka to an unaffordable limit of say 1000-percent making a cigarette cost at rupees thirty rather than rupees three as present. Let ultra-rich commit virtual suicide after paying a virtual 'suicide-tax'. In addition, Union Health Minister should ignore pleas by anti-public Chief Ministers and legislators against printing pictorial-warning on cigarette-packs. If self-regulation is the policy to check human evils, then Union Government should withdraw attempt-to-suicide from Indian Penal Code. Likewise using helmets by scooterists should also be made self-regulatory rather than being forced as compulsory. Enditem