What is the govt trying to do by forcing the NON-SMOKING law on to the people? It first started off with NO SMOKING law in the train, then it was restriction of sale of tobacco within a 100 metre radius of the school, university etc and now no smoking in movies!! Come off it please...Does the smoking by hero or villain actually inspire the aam junta to smoke?? Maybe if they had introduced this law way back when the movie industry was coming up in India, the law would have been practical but now i guess its a trifle bit too late!! (personal opinion). I was laughing my ass off the other day reading about Amitabh being sued for smoking in a movie....i guess they expected him to chew a pan or probably a bubble gum (incidentally both these are known to cause mouth cancers too)!!! If the leaders who introduced these laws were actually serious about the same, then i guess they should have gone about banning smoking altogether or they should ban companies/ retailers from producing/ selling cigarettes..how do you expect to curb/ reduce the hazards of smoking, if the source itself is still kicking on without any issues.
On one hand, the govt. comes out with such laws as stated above and on the other hand, they are planning to mince money out of the Tobacco industry. One of the critical issues being discussed in The Budget 2006 is the introduction of VAT on cigarettes..this very clearly shows that our govt. is not very pro-antismoking but things like banning of smoking in movies etc. are just publicity stunts (not sure if stunts is the right word here).
Lets take the second govt in question - the English..Now these guys have banned smoking in all public places which includes - bars n pubs too!! I mean a mug of beer in one hand n NO fag in the other?? Its unimaginable..i cant even think of a pub where there is not a single trace of smoke..this may hit the pub sales soon in the UK. The whole point of drinking in a pub is the ambience and what , to a certain extent, adds to that ambience is the smoke (guess all the hard core non-smnoker will strangle me:)). Personally i'd rather drink at home now where i have the liberty to smoke my heart out rather my lungs out rather than in a pub where i would have to just drink n sit around!! At this rate, I wouldnt be surprised if soon they ban drinking alcohol in the pubs or bars!!! or even resort to something like the below -
more of these available on www.quitsmoking.com
The normal human tendency is that of OPPOSITION!! If someone asks me NOT to do something, then the tendency or inclination to do that is very HIGH!!I am sure all, if not most of them would agree to this. A classic example is how the indian govt. banned the advertising of alcohol in the media and what happened? All those alcohol/ beer companies (Kingfisher, Mcdowell etc.) came out with bottled mineral water with the same brand name and started advertising supposedly for the "mineral water".
One of the ads/billboards for Mcdowell displayed a guy in business suit smiling with his index finger raised and the script read "One on the rocks, pls" and beneath in small lettering was written "packaged mineral water" - Now u make whatever sense n meaning that the above ad depicted!!!!!
Coming back to democracy ,is this what the people wanted when they elected their respective representatives to the legislatures or where ever? I dont believe so...
What we need now probably is a participatory democracy - a democracy where every citizen takes part in the decision making of the government and it is not left in the hands of the 'so-called' representativies of the junta..but how practical this would be taking into account the population of our country..hmmm - No idea!!
trivia: there are only 4 products which does not have VAT on them currently - sugar, textiles, cigarettes and petroleum.
and yeah just for information - I DONT SMOKE:)
3 comments:
well.. the best way to handle this wud be to settle for something in between, smoke in non-public places is alright. but then again the govt cannot afford to ban cigarrette production altogether cause it makes crores of rupees on it. a good book relating to this topic is "thank you for smoking". read it sometime.. its a darn good read.. and a comedy too.
I most definitely agree that the idea of banning smoking in movies is absurd.I mean how would you try showing a scene where the guy is a chain smoker? would you block his face and put up a subtitle stating that the man is smoking!!!utter rubbish!
Yeah banning smoking in public places makes some sense though there are certain arguments against this clause which if we start discussing can take hours together.
An outright ban on smoking would definitely not have much impact instantly but in the long run the general public would definitely have a safe haven to move around.
The Budget announced yday has made an increase in the Excise duty on cigarettes by 5%-lets see what kind of an impact its gonna make.
for those who dont care abt any of this, chill out and have a fag.
I cud go till 2nd para of ur lecture . then understood u lack basic realities. aam junta is defintely affected by what their heroes does. may b the educated ppl ll stay away from cult . this is bn proved by surveys . in every survey which lists out smoking habit in age grp 10-25 , they do indent following heroes as one of the reason
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