Intend to kill

In February this year WHO came out with the report that a billion people will die of tobacco related causes by the end of this century. Contribution of smoking in this is very significant. Smoking killed 100 million people in the 20th century, and the yearly death toll could pass 8 million as soon as 2030 — 80% of those deaths will be in the developing world, where tobacco use is growing most rapidly. According to a study by New England Journal of Medicine “Smoking kills 900,000 people every year in India, and unless corrective action is taken soon that number will increase to 1 million smoking-related deaths annually by 2010. Smoking accounts for nearly one in 10 of all deaths in India”.

WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic 2008 called on governments to adhere to six tobacco control policies it calls MPOWER: monitor tobacco use; protect people from secondhand smoke; offer help to people who want to quit; warn about the risks of smoking; enforce bans on cigarette advertising; and raise tobacco taxes. According to the report, nearly two thirds of the world's smokers live in 10 countries — China, India, Japan, Indonesia, Bangladesh, the U.S., Brazil, Germany, Russia, and Turkey. This blogger read in the Net that combined destruction of AIDS, World War II, and outright homicide accounted for less death than cigarette smoke over a 75 year period.

It is in this context that Union health minister Anbumani Ramadoss role comes into significance. We Indians need to be grateful to this man, despite the consistent onslaught from Market driven media (clearly they are fed by cigarette companies, no rocket science there!!) even attempting to brand him as some sort of a maniac (a case of sense of humor from media gone far!!). Mr. Ramdoss according to this blogger -which most will agree, is one the best Union Health minister so far (he is definitely is a role model for policy makers in developing countries) he had the option of playing with the Market but he was brave enough to side with the people and has done what is expected from a health minister of more than a billion people- at mercy of money bags trying to peddle their product despite grave health risk. Lobbies functioning for cigarette companies are quite vicious people and they can go to any extend. Poor and corrupt society like India is an easy game. BBC sometime back did an investigation on how they work in Africa, trying to create addiction as early as possible and other blatant unethical practices. One thing about these lobbies is that they absolutely adore democracy and their each and every argument reiterates commitment to freedom !!

Further a smoker is attempted to be portrayed in Indian media (and most importantly in American media, from where these people get their reference) as a regular guy like you and me!. On the contrary Smoking like any other addiction needs psychological help. A person who destroys his/her health with each breath he/she takes is by no stretch of imagination normal. This epidemic has another dimension and that is passive smoking that affects people around the smoker. Studies have shown serious consequences of this. Clearly they are putting others life on risk too because of their addiction. Everybody has a right so long as they aren't harming others, in this case it is not mere harming it is threat on life. Now this is where the line has to be drawn and a policy of zero tolerance needed. Thankfully Health Minister has taken the responsibility despite usual hoarse from media. From October 2^nd we people can breath easy and don’t have to tolerate some maniac who has to smoke because of democratic reasons !!. They can do it inside their house (provided children’s right to access clean air is not threatened or else it is an abuse) or toilet the onus is on them and not us to give them space for smoking. This is what health minister had to say recently “Demographically, India, home to 60 crore young people below the age of 30, is the youngest nation in the world. They are our national assets and they must be protected against tobacco. We are strengthening our Tobacco Regulatory Authority to enforce strict anti-tobacco laws.” Very right. His jab on Shah Rukh Khan or Budhadeb (incidentally Bengal State has one of the highest smokers) is well intentioned, this blogger like most people in this country welcomes these, he is counterpointing the image the cigarette companies create: “it is not cool”. As also his attempt to rein in surrogate smoking ads in movies is welcomed, don’t know about efficacy part, but it generated lots of awareness about tricks morons play in the name of creative freedom.

Further passive smoking is “intend to kill” (like drinking and driving) and there should be protection from passive smoking and make smokers who puts anyone at risk considered a serious offence (protecting people from secondhand smoke is a policy initiative proposed by WHO). Also the onus is on the owner of private places (like Offices, clubs) to implement these strictly. For the very same reason chairperson of BTC (Bangalore Turf Club) stands accused of “intend to kill”, they are not implementing the no smoking rules strictly jeopardizing the health of its patrons. Hopefully such negligence will be considered a serious offense after October 2^nd. Long live people like Anbumani Ramadoss. He is a very rare politician. This blogger rates him as the best Health Minister ever, probably one of the most responsible Health Minister in the world today. We common people are grateful to him.

Post script: He does it again !!

The Union Home Minister was quoted as saying that there was specific knowledge about threat of bombing in Delhi (don’t whether the intention was to upstage Modi. Never can trust the games politicians play). Obviously terrorists are not going to drop in the address and time. Understanding that it is an uphill task when there are millions of people and so much of lack of information about people and so on, making security agencies job very difficult. What this blogger fails to understand is why basic precautionary standards not taken?. Video footage was a great help in London bombing so that should have been the priority area. The CCTVs in Karol bagh was found to be malfunctioning (also consider crowded places like Karol bagh are always on miscreants radar. This is second one in Gaffar market) therefore valuable inputs lost. This is shocking. Who is responsible for these?. Delhi’s law and order comes under Union Home Ministry, this blogger wants to know whether orders were passed. Otherwise Union Home Ministry is accused of nothing less than criminal negligence.