So many aspects of smoking

Smoking, particularly cigarette smoking, as we all know, is the legacy of the west. When it comes to aping the west or something foreign, there is no one in the world to beat an Indian. If it is idiosyncratic of an individual to emulate the west, one can do nothing about it. But, in India, even the present Government or the earlier ones are no different either. We, as individuals or as a Government, do not have any original ideas. When the West indulged in smoking, we too did. When the West disapproved of it, the individuals who got addicted to smoking could not give up smoking, but the Government started appeasing the west by imposing curbs on smoking and at the same time, taking advantage of the situation.

The government does not ban smoking, it goes on increasing prices of the tobacco products. The argument put forward is that it wants to make the habit of smoking unaffordable. If the price of a product is unaffordable, one would switch over to the less costly brand. In such a case, it must be ensured that there is only one brand available and that must be made costlier than ever. Then, to some extent, the desired effect may be brought about.

But, the way the prices are increased has a set pattern of vested interests getting benefitted. The modus operandi is like this. In the month of December and January, several times the normal stocks are dumped into the market. The government announces rise of tobacco products during annual budget, but in the market, they would be sold at that price two months in advance. If only one thinks how such a precise guess is made by the manufacturers and wholesalers, one would be awestruck. The union budget would be announced on the last day of February. In the last week of December of the earlier year, the cigarettes would go into black market. The stocks of December and January next would be sold for several months, even during March and April, at the increased price, without having to pay the taxes and duties due to the government. No stock of February will ever be seen in the market. The March stocks would enter the market with the new prices printed on them. This modus operandi has been going on for decades. And, one cannot imagine this without some source from the government helping the vested interests and needless to add, that source is also a vested interest.

To jump on a bandwagon is also an Indian trait. When quite a few people are of one opinion and some powerful men are also there in that group, any one saying anything against such an opinion is considered bad, negative or a traitor. No one would even listen to what he wants to say. Since the three BJP MPs, who went all out in support of smoking, are men of some stature, their opinion is on air and in print.  If their argument is found wanting, then the science that proved the direct linkage between smoking and cancer has to be made public and their queries to be answered with necessary evidences.

At the end of the day, if the Government thinks that smoking is bad, it has to ban the tobacco products altogether and ensure that it is not made available in the market and also black market. But, making a fast buck and fleecing a tobacco addict in the guise of putting some curbs on it does not speak well of a true government that cares for its people.

And then coming to larger pictorial warning on the cigarette packs, we want to portray an attitude of ‘more loyal than the king himself’.