By Abu Zafar, India Tomorrow,
New Delhi, 31 May 2014: As the world marks World No Tobacco Day today, a recent report from World Health Organization (WHO) suggests that the rate of tobacco consumption in India is rising and about 2500 people die daily (over 9 lakh in a year) in the country due to tobacco related diseases. According to WHO, many chronic diseases like cancer, lung diseases, cardiovascular diseases and stroke are related to use of tobacco.
Unfortunately India is the second largest consumer and third largest manufacturer of tobacco products. As tobacco products are available at very low prices in the country, the most alarming fact is that its consumption is increasing day by day.
Rural India consumes more tobacco
The Global Adult Tobacco Survey India 2009-10 says that 35 percent adults in India, which constitute nearly 27.5 crore, use tobacco. The ratio of tobacco consumption in rural areas is more than in urban areas.
“About two of five adults in rural areas and one in four adults in urban areas use tobacco,” the survey suggests.
Another study, ‘Patterns of Tobacco Use Across Rural, Urban, and Urban-Slum Populations in a North Indian Community’ found that tobacco consumption among women was also reported more in rural areas than in urban areas.
What is most alarming is that each day about 55,000 children in India start using tobacco.
In rural areas, home made tobacco products and bidi and khaini are more popular and easily available at cheaper costs.
6 lakh non-smokers die due to tobacco
25.9 percent use smokeless tobacco and 5.7 percent smoke cigarettes and 9.2 percent smoke bidis.
Apart from bidi and cigarettes there are other tobacco products like gutkha, mava, khaini and pan masala that are being widely used in India. Even several states have banned gutkha and pan masala but more than 80,000 new cases of oral cancer are being reported annually in the country.
Recent WHO data shows that not only those people who smoke suffer but even those who are nearby smokers and inhale their smoke or share the same accommodations also suffer a lot.
Out of 60 lakh people who die every year all over the world due to tobacco related diseases, 6 lakh of them are non-smokers who die due to breathing second hand smoke.
In 1988 the World Health Assembly passed a resolution to mark 31 May every year as World No Tobacco Day.
Wastage of money
Experts are also concerned that due to tobacco related diseases, a large amount of money is being spent which could have been used for other social welfare purposes.
According to a report “Economic Burden of Tobacco Related Diseases in India”, conducted by Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) and released by Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on 29 May 2014, tobacco related diseases cost Rs. 1,04,500 crores in the year 2011.
Last week the WHO advocated increasing taxes on tobacco products to curb its massive use.
While delivering a speech on the occasion, Dr. Nata Menabde, WHO representative to India, said that raising taxes on tobacco productions is a weapon to fight this evil.
“Raising taxes is one of our strongest weapons to fight out tobacco and this is what the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control mandates,” she said.
“A tax increase that raises prices of tobacco products by 10% is estimated to reduce tobacco consumption by 4% to 5%. Essentially, as tax goes up, death and disease goes down. Raising taxes on tobacco is a win-win situation. It is good for people’s health and good for the economy,” she further added.
Harsh Vardhan also announced to raise taxes and also hinted for a massive campaign against tobacco using school children.
It is said that the history of tobacco in India is 400 years old and it was first brought by Portuguese merchants to Goa in India. Soon after, smoking or chewing tobacco became a kind of fashion in Goa.
Binoy Mathew of Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI) feels that due to lack of proper implementation the result has not been good.
“We have sufficient laws and policies but due to lack of implementation and enforcement good laws and policies also seem to have failed to reduce tobacco consumption in our country,” Mathew told India Tomorrow.
Mathew is hopeful that raising taxes of tobacco products will reduce its consumption.
“Raising tobacco taxes is a good fiscal and public health policy – a win-win solution to help reduce tobacco consumption. Numerous studies and experience of many countries have demonstrated that higher taxes reduce the number of tobacco users and the number of tobacco-related diseases and deaths,” Mathew pointed out.
“Higher prices encourage cessation among current tobacco users, prevent initiation, and stop re-initiation by ex-users. Higher prices also reduce the number of cigarettes smoked per day among continuing smokers,” he added.
He also advocated for a uniform tax system for all tobacco productions, which is rarely seen in India. Even the tax rate is far below than the recommended rate by the WHO.
A data shows that the revenue of tobacco products had increased with increase in taxes for 18 states. Tamil Nadu recorded highest revenue in the year 2012-13 which stands at 192% as compared to 2010-11. Jammu & Kashmir was at 182%, Meghalaya at 158%, Uttarakhand at 120%, Rajasthan at 111%, Bihar at 104% and Gujarat at 100%.
However Armoghanur Rahman, a Mumbai based software engineer, thinks that through increasing taxes nothing will change.
“The policies are framed just for the appeasement of the public, so they are mostly ineffective. If the government really wants to curb its consumption then it must put a leash on production rather than sale and distribution. The policies for the production of opium, firearms and stamp papers have successfully done the job,” Rahman told India Tomorrow.
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