Considering the provisions of Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act 2003 (COTPA) and to curtail the usage of cigarettes, tobacco and other addictive products especially among the teenagers, Principal Secretary to CM, Sanjay Kumar instructed the officials of Department of Health and Family Welfare to inscribe ‘No Tobacco’ pictorial warning with details on tin plates on school walls.
In view of the increasing cases of chewing tobacco among the youths which is on substantial rise in State in comparison to cigarettes consumption, Kumar during a State level media sensitization workshop for advancing tobacco control in Jharkhand on Saturday issued the instructions to the officials.
In spite of the legal provisions, no serious attempts at educational institutions have been made to illustrate the ill-effects of tobacco consumption among the students. District Superintendents of Education (DSEs) have been also notified to ensure that all schools must have written materials imprinted on walls.
Ironically, 70 per cent government officials are unaware about legal aspects of COTPA 2003. According to the reports of Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) India, 55.6 per cent youths use tobacco in different forms. In Jharkhand, more than half of adult population (50.1 per cent) use tobacco. Approximately, 63.6 per cent males and 35.9 per cent females are using tobacco at present in either smoking or smokeless form in Jharkhand. The trend also highlights that tobacco consumption is considerably increasing among the females residing here.
“Besides creating awareness, social responsibility of all stakeholders must be increased. Psychological change is a necessity to curtail this. Through taxation as well, we can curtail this menace. Moreover, till date, we do not have any official record of cancer patients. It is important for the officials to ensure that youths are sensitized about it while conducting regular raids at shops breaching the guidelines,” said, Kumar.
Similarly, focusing on the provisions of prohibition of advertisement and regulation of trade and commerce, production, supply and distribution under COTPA regulation, Executive Director, Socio Economic and Educational Development Society (SEEDS), Deepak Mishra said that at present, people are unfamiliar about twin pack ban, Juvenile Justice Act Provision under COTPA, penalty charge including the importance of pictorial warning at public places.
“During the raids that are conducted at a regular interval, it is found that shopkeepers that heedlessly endorse any specific brand through hoardings are uninformed about the penalty charges imposed under COTPA for the offence. For not putting pictorial warning signboards as well, a penalty charge is incurred upon the owners at offices, other public places and most of us are unfamiliar about this also,” said Mishra.
A many as 50,000 shopkeepers violating the COTPA norms across the State have been penalized under different sections. Tobacco Cessation Centre (TCC) established at Bokaro and Dumka has so far counseled 2000 persons.