Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'FM versus Tobacco' that was published in Newsband

FM versus Tobacco

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has increased the specific excise duty on cigarettes and chewing tobacco. Will this movie increase the revenue generated from tobacco sale or will there be reduction in tobacco consumption?

Another question is why are bidis not taxed? After all, bidi consumption constitutes 35 to 40 per cent of total tobacco use in the country. 

The thing is complete ban on tobacco and its products is not possible. One cannot stop addicted people in one day; this might only lead to more frustration and anger. Also, increasing the price of all the products in one go would lead to more wastage of money especially by poor who indulge into selling their belongings etc to fulfill their desire. But a slow price rise might help in reducing the number of addicted people.

Attempts to discourage the smokers by highlighting the health-hazards of smoking and hiking the price of cigarettes yielded a notable decline of smokers in the country. But the American cancer institute atlas says that the number of woman-smoker is on the increase in India. India stands third in the world after US & China in the shameful rank of women-smokers.

Imposing tax on cigarette can lead to crime like Cigarettes smuggling. A passive smokers never mind paying a few more bucks for his/her love of smoking or chewing of tobacco. So some people are of the opinion that government should ban tobacco to make people fully avoid these products.

The government has increased the tax on tobacco for a certain reason. The idea is to discourage new young individuals from taking up smoking by increasing the prices. Government may have done a decent job as smoking is a deeply rooted phenomenon in our society and banning it overnight would cause undesirable repercussions. Since tobacco consumption is a form of addiction, a complete ban will not result in zero consumption rather it would promote smuggling and black marketing of tobacco products. Another concern is the number of people it will suddenly push into unemployment and the loss of tax revenue for government. Uprooting of this nuisance should be done in a controlled manner, so as to prevent any sudden disruption to any of the stakeholder of the decision,

Smoking and poverty are closely linked  in the sense that poor people spend a greater proportion of their income on tobacco and have less to spend on food, health or education.

Bidi consumption is mostly by the poorest persons in the society such as agricultural /construction labour who find some relief by having a puff in between their hard physical work. Why penalise them with higher taxes? The finance minister has done the right thing by not imposing taxes on bidis.

It is true that most youngsters take up smoking which later becomes an addiction only because they feel it makes them appear “cool” among their peers. The solution is only to put fine on those who smoke. If the fine is heavy they automatically if not immediately gradually stop smoking.