With tobacco killing over 1 million people every year in India, accounting for 9.5 per cent of all deaths besides draining away the Treasury’s finances in addition to lost productivity, more and more elected representatives, cutting across party lines, have been seeking assurance from Parliament for stringent tobacco-control legislation to save the youth and kids.
The MPs supporting the amendments in the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply, and Distribution) (Amendment) Bill, 2020 are hopeful that the legislation will be tabled in the ongoing Monsoon Session, based on assurances to their representations and questions addressed to the Union Ministry of Health. Data available from the Parliament Assurance Monitoring System indicates that there are at least seven assurances pending on tabling of the COTPA Bill 2020, in the two houses of the Parliament.
The Bill was put up for public comments way back in 2015, then withdrawn and reintroduced for public comments in 2020. Some of the elected representatives who have raised the issues are M Selvaraj (CPI), Harish Dwivedi, Maneka Gandhi, MV Rajeev Gowda, PL Puniya, Harshvardhan Singh Dungarpur (BJP), and P Bhattacharya (Congress) to name a few. Sources in the Union Health Ministry said that the government has taken a very timely step in initiating the COTPA Amendment Bill 2020 to protect Indians, especially youth and children from tobacco addiction, related diseases, and suffering. It may find light of the day in the current session, they said.
Some of the amendment proposals include a ban on Point of Sale advertisements of tobacco. “Unrestricted advertisement of these products attracts younger generation and innocent minds to experiment with these while being unaware of the adverse consequences of consuming such addictive products,” they said, adding that the Government has taken serious cognizance of this gap.
Also, the proposed amendment on removing provisions in the Act that allow smoking areas in restaurants, hotels, and airports, will help to save the public from the harmful effects of second-hand smoke. The Bill further proposes to increase the legal age for the sale of tobacco products from 18 to 21 years, crucial to protecting youth from tobacco initiation and addiction.
Nearly 27% of all cancers in India are due to tobacco usage. The number of deaths every year in India which is attributable to tobacco use is more than 13.5 lakhs. The total direct and indirect cost of diseases attributable to tobacco use was a staggering Rupees 182,000 crore which is nearly 1.8% of India’s GDP.