The recent move of the Union Government for imposing heavy tax on bidi has been welcomed by many across India. Few might have known that the effort of Bhadrak-born activist- lawyer had an important role in it.
Upon petitions filed by Radhakanta Tripathy, the National Human Rights Commission asked the Ministry of Finance to take appropriate steps on imposition of tax on bidi within eight weeks. However, the Union Ministry took a year to publicly declare the huge tax on bidi after several rounds of discussions.
Tripathy in his petition pointed out that on the cigarette packets “Smoking is injurious to health” is clearly mentioned and similar warning is there in the case of gutkha packets. However this has been missing in case of bidi bundles/packets. The bidi is the poor man's smoke, and the bidi industry employs millions. But are these horrifying reasons for justifying huge tax breaks for proven killers.
The poor want low prices, but is a cheap killer like the bidi the solution, he asked.
The Government fails to act against bidi, which is infinitely a bigger killer than cigarettes, Tripathy contended. Indians consume one trillion lightly taxed bidis per year against 106 billion highly taxed cigarettes (both figures will be higher today).
Why focus only on the 10 per cent smoking cigarettesIJ Why not equalize taxes on bidis and cigarettes, Trpathy asked.
According to a research estimate, 930,000 Indians die annually of tobacco-related diseases.
A research study of 2010, 'The Economics of Tobacco and Tobacco Taxation in India', concluded that raising bidi taxes to Rs 98 per 1,000 sticks would add Rs 36.9 billion to tax revenues and prevent 15.5 million current and future smokers dying prematurely. Increasing cigarette taxes to Rs 3,691 per 1,000 sticks would further add Rs 146.3 billion to tax revenues and prevent 3.4 million premature deaths, Tripathy stated.
The policy on taxation of cigarettes and bidis is more politics than healthcare. Equalizing taxes on the two may not be done in one go, but can surely be phased in over five years. The bidi packs should carry the same health warnings as cigarette packs. The Government should not favour one killer over another, the activist argued.
He requested the NHRC to direct the Ministry of Health to act over the issue on a war footing and ensure the basic human rights of the citizens.