Smoking kills 900,000 people in India every year. 102 people every hour. (Source)
A new regulation bans smoking in public places starting October 2nd (today). Today is Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday. As a tribute to the father of the nation, this would come into affect from today. Leaving whether the ban is justified or not, it is a noble initiative nevertheless.
Interesting thing is, it does not take any thing from the policy makers. It is just a law, sign it and pass it. No negotiations, no risk analysis, no nothing. Our government’s obsession with low hanging yet controversial fruits continues. Reservations are one of those things. This is the next thing. No cost involved, let’s implement!
The noble cause of this initiative is to reduce the accessibility and thus save people’s lives. I don’t think the environment is on their agenda. If successful it would help the environment too. I am not sure if this will be a success in terms of reducing the deaths. People will still try to find ways to sneak and to smoke. The law says smoking in public places is banned. Public place by definition is debatable. Is Road a public place or not? Can they smoke on the road? Would this cause people to smoke more (like 2 or 3 cigarettes at a time) because the opportunities are limited? Only time will tell the answers.
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