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The Union Health
Ministry issued a directive banning all smoking
on screen. Hence, movies and teleserials cannot
show people smoking. The directive said that TV
channels with older movies with smokers will
have to display a warning message to let views
know that smoking is "injurious to health." With
this directive, India becomes the first country
in the world to bank smoking on screen. Films
with smoking scenes must run a band under the
movie disavowing smoking. Sports events and
international personalities sporting clothes
promoting cigarettes have to adhere to this
format. One way to look at this directive is
that this is kind of a "bleeping" mechanism for
cigarettes just as there are "bleeping"
mechanism for bad language on television.
Indian producers
and directors were quick to criticize this plan
as impractical, stymieing creativity, and
"bizarre." Ms. Sharmila Tagore, who is the head
of the Indian Board of Censors thought that this
ban should not be an impediment to developing a
character.
Historically,
Indian movies frozen in time to the 50s and 60s,
routinely glorify characters who smoked. Many
actors made smoking or their adroit handling of
cigarettes their trademark. Rajikanth, the
popular Tamil actor, is known for his cigarettes
tricks and usually aped by boys on the street.
Amitabh Bachan, the popular Hindi actor, set a
trend of bidi-hanging-off-my-mouth in rural
north India. Hence, with such popular actors
glorifying smoking, demonstrating a sign of
being "cool," a sought-after man, who ultimately
won the maiden and over his enemies served as
unpaid advertisement for cigarette
manufacturers. In fact, people paid to watch
these heroes and bought cigarettes after seeing
them. While smoking is being routinely banned in
Western countries, more and more youth in India
and other developing countries are seen as the
growth segment by Indian and global cigarette
manufacturers.
Smokers in India
are a menace. Apart from the rare one who take
his trash with him, most Indian smokers trash
the place around them. They usually smoke with a
tea or coffee drunk from a non-biodegradable
plastic cup. Then they usually have some areca
nut (gutka) or mouth freshener and throw that
non-biodegradable plastic bag around too. So,
every time they smoke, they leave behind three
pieces of garbage, affect others through second
hand smoke, and stink up the place. And, unlike
other countries, there is no consequence for
their actions and the non-smoking majority and
the tax paying minority have to pick up the tab
for a mess they hate to support.
As noble as this
directive seem to be, it throws up more issues
that it really solves. Firstly, is this
directive legally tenable? How will the Supreme
Court (SC) see it if one were to challenge the
directive in court arguing that it curtails
freedom of speech, expression, and creativity.
While the SC did rule to stay the ban and
messaging on cigarette packets in 2003, the
arguments were focused on right to sell. In this
case, it is right to expression. Secondly, is
the Government trying to alert population about
the ill effects of smoking or just shutting down
one avenue of glorifying smoking? Thirdly, is
there a political angle to this directive.
Rajinikanth is viewed by many as the next MGR
phenomenon to enter politics in Tamil Nadu. A
disaffected population in the state is at a
stage of rejecting both Dravidian parties and an
entry of the popular hero would be very
inconvenient for the opportunistic coalition of
convenience in Tamil Nadu fighting
Jayalalithaa's All India Anna Dravida Munnetra
Kazhagam (AIADMK) in Tamil Nadu. As recent
results in the by election showed, that the
traditional 33% swing voters of Tamil Nadu voted
with Jayalalitha-- they had voted against her
last year in the Parliamentary elections. Hence,
the time may be rife for a third force, one who
may take the swing voters and perhaps some
fringe voters from the AIADMK and Dravida
Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). Fourthly, while this
directive will shutdown one avenue of
pro-cigarette messaging, it does not address the
countless surrogate advertisements, products,
branding, bill boards, and retail outlets that
go on promoting cigarettes. Cigarette and
alcohol companies are so bold in India that they
own retail chains, grant bogus awards, sell
non-existent music, market water, and even own
airlines by their flagship names. How is the
Health Ministry planning to control these other
forms of messaging. If this was a part of a
larger architecture to control smoking and
improve the lives of Indians, then an insight
into that plan will win over skeptics. Fifthly,
many skeptics think that this is a political
stunt only to squeeze the tobacco companies of
more political covert and overt funding. Like
the gutka ban in Maharashtra last year, the
alcohol ban in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and
Nagaland, many believe that this ban will
disappear with the chorous of protests from
tobacco, film, television, and advertising
industry-- all of them with strong financial and
political clout. Many actors are Members of
Parliament, one Federal Minister owns a popular
television channel, and one liquor baron is
Member of the Rajya Sabha.
If the Health
Minister is serious about controlling the rate
of cigarette smoking or its effects on people,
he must take a more comprehensive view of the
problem. Firstly, selling of tobacco products to
underage population should be banned and
enforced. Secondly, allowing underage population
into bars, dance clubs, or music clubs must also
be banned and enforceable. Thirdly, there should
be a ban on use of brand names associated with
cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, and other harmful
products in other consumer goods, services, or
places. Fourthly, we need a lot of education at
the school, rural, and street level. Signing up
the same actors who glorified smoking as
Ambassadors to tell people not to smoke would be
a great start. Also, instead of banning smoking
in cinema use it as a medium to impart the right
message. Fifthly, there needs to a high tax on
manufacture, sale, import, and distribution of
tobacco products. These need to be at a Central
level and choke points-- customs, manufacturing
units, warehousing, etc. These profiteers must
be charged for maximum installed capacity of
their plants or warehouses and not their
declared rate of manufacture. Sixthly, the sale
of tobacco products near schools, colleges, and
other educational institutions must be banned
and enforced. The Union Minister recently
reported that 877 people were arrested for
selling tobacco products to minors and for
storing them near a school. While this is
commendable, the numbers quoted are paltry
compared to the wonton violations all over the
nation and always with impunity. Seventhly, the
tobacco and gutka companies need to be asked to
pay a garbage fee which will then be paid to
local Governments to clean up their mess.
With the absence
of such comprehensive measures, the Union
Minister's noble goal of controlling smoking and
improving the health of the nation will go
nowhere. |
