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Burning Brain Newsletter - August 2005BURNING BRAIN
What are we celebrating Dear Friends, 15th August 2005, the 59th Independence day of India. A country enslaved in the shackles of corruption, communalism, castism, nepotism, crime, with disregard for human life & dignity. Is there any reason to celebrate when there's total lawlessness everywhere, corruption is rampant, number of poor people have increased many folds, the gap between the rich and the poor is widening everyday and what not. The very values enshrined in the constitution and envisioned in independent India are now no one's concern. Even those who sit in the high offices by virtue of the power given by the constitution are not concerned about that very constitution. Every Bureaucrat is a law onto himself, what to say even the peon of the bada sahib is so empowered. Who cares about the law, everyone talks about the so called practical aspect and the precedents as if the laws are just comic books and fictitious novels and they have the right to decide so. Even the judges in the court "on record" say that there is a law of the books and a law of practice. God knows who made this law of practice outside the spirit of the constitution, how one can come to know about it and how it is to be followed. This creates a situation where all laws are interpreted selectively in an aristocratic manner under the golden umbrella and with the blessings of Maa Lakshmi. The ears of the blind God of Justice are too high and takes years for any voice to reach there undistorted. The People are too afraid to demand their rights or even raise their voice. A ten to twenty year period for a court case to finish is but a very small period. Speedy trial is not a right even in the fast track courts. The statistics are manipulated year after year to show progress. People like us, living in urban areas, are made to believe that the whole country is progressing. Statistics are quoted, increase in GDP is cited and what not. We are made to believe that India is growing rich. There are just around 6 crores and 40 lakh gas cylinders in India, what to speak of any other thing. How is the rest of India cooking its food? Still using Kerosene and Wood (or do you believe they are using microwaves?). Half of the countries population stills sleeps without three meals a day. Even the poorest of Indian pay over 30% on all money transacted through him in the form of Sales Tax, Excise, Service Tax, Property Tax, Octroi, Income Tax, etc. Since every article we buy is directly and indirectly taxed at many levels so even if not everyone is paying Income Tax still he/she is paying good amount of taxes. Where is it going? Why no development is still taking place? How have we killed the spirit of independence of every Indian? No one can dare raise his voice against corruption, crime or any other wrong. Any one can come and rob, kill or rape in broad daylight, in presence of hundreds of people, still no one raises his/her voice. In 56 years we have managed to developed a system which has chocked every voice capable of speaking, handicapped every mind which can think, killed the spirit of enquiry or inquisitiveness and moved from a Nation of action to nation of rhetoric's. As if all the speeches (and the so called planning's) is a substitute to action. What are we celebrating? Still deliberating, yours
You Can Make a Difference - Participate You can help a great deal by filling the survey form below. Your 5 minutes can make all the difference in understanding the tobacco problem in a better way and also contribute in the handling of tobacco issue and making policies in future. All the information you provide shall be kept confidential (until you opt to speak openly) and at no stage your identity shall be revealed. In fact you have the option of not filling the name and the details column at the last however if you fill up that section you shall be eligible for one of the over 200 surprise gifts which we shall be distributing to the respondents. If you find this form is not working correctly in your mail box please visit the Burning Brain website. This survey form is also available at http://www.burningbrain.org/survey.htm .You can download and print this form from http://www.burningbrain.org/pdf/surveyform_by_bbs.pdf. Please mail all survey forms to GPO Box 137, Sector 17, Chandigarh 160017 INDIA.
A BBS Survey;
News from Past 15 months, yet no
notification
Government claims of complete ban
of tobacco sale to children were Moreover the awareness level of the Chandigarh residents about the anti-tobacco laws. 89 percentage of the people expressed complete ignorance about the anti-tobacco laws and only 26 percent had some idea about the rights of a non-smoker. However, around 56 percent claimed that they protest about anyone smoking in public area and 78 percent said they never allow anyone to smoke in their house, office or in front of the children but 21 percent of these respondents said the status of the person is the deciding factor. This survey was mainly conducted
to find the awareness level of the Hemant Ramtirth Goswami said, "The poor awareness level about anti-tobacco laws is a result of the apathetic attitude of the senior officials of the UT Administration who failed to even bring out the requisite notification about the people empowered to act under the law."
Download a free e-book: Burning Brain released an e-book containing;
You can download your copy from http://www.burnigbrain.org/pdf/tobaccomenace.pdf
CONTINUED ACTION: Support the demand for licensing all tobacco vendors: You are requested to aggressively advocate the idea of licensing the tobacco vends in your own state. This move is going to make a big difference in the fight against tobacco. The skeleton form of the letter is appended below. You can use the same text , modify it or draft your own. Send the letters to the Union Ministry for Health, the P.M., Your C.M. and other people in the Government.
Dear sir, We would like to draw your attention to the law enacted by the Parliament, referred to as “Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003.” We also draw your attention to the “Framework Convention on Tobacco Control” which India has signed and ratified. Under the said act, all the states of the union are bound to prohibit any form of tobacco advertisement, prohibit the sale of tobacco in and around educational institutions and to minors, and control smoking of tobacco products at public places. The law came into force from May 1, 2004 but quite unfortunately since more than a year nothing much has happened to address the issues and the act remains a few written words in book-form over the shelf. The size of the problem demoralizes a lot of people to even put their hand on the problem while others have a diluted commitment because they themselves are using tobacco products; though personal preferences should never ride over one’s duty. Some people are busy in making petty gains out of the death of millions. When there is a strong law to tackle an identified and established killer like tobacco, we feel nothing should stop us from taking the killer head on. We propose an important strategy in the control of tobacco menace and for effective implementation of the “Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003.” Since presently anyone can start selling tobacco almost anywhere without any issues, resulting in tobacco products being sold by and to minors; POP advertisement boards exceeding the prescribed size and number; tobacco being sold in loose form and in an unregulated mode at such shops where it should not. This result in another big problem of controlling the growth and forcing the vendors to observe the regulations and thereby further the spirit of the law made in this regard. We propose that tobacco be sold only through licensed vendors as is done in the case of liquor. Anyone who wishes to trade in tobacco should apply for license to appropriate and prescribed authorities. A small license fee varying between Rs. 2000 to 20000 per month can be fixed for giving the license. Ordinarily license should be given to everyone who follows the norms, is having a legal establishment and declares to follow the guidelines and the prescribed norms besides the law. Assuming that presently tobacco is sold only through one lakh establishments and just 50% of them apply for licence. If on an average we charge only Rs. 2000 per month per vendor still we shall be able to create additional revenue of 120 crores every year. This money can then again be used for IEC purpose without putting additional burden on the state. Other than this, it will enable us to control the tobacco menace and regulate it more effectively and will certainly result in better enforcement of laws made in this regard. Please consider this proposal in the interest of the public at large. We estimate that such a move will result in saving about 3.2 million youngsters from falling into tobacco trap in India over the next 20 years. Thanking you Hemant Goswami
CALL FOR SUPPORT: Support Burning Brain Friends, You can support us in a number of ways. You can join the crusade, provide financial resources, contribute in cash or kind, donate resources, volunteer and be a contributing person.
You can send your payments/drafts/cheques and other contributions in favour of Burning Brain Society, payable at Chandigarh and addressed to: Burning Brain Society You can also make transfers to BBS bank account (with an intimation at the above mentioned address), our bank details are; Bank: Bank Account Number: If you are keen to know how the funds are being utilized, we shall be more than happy to share our account details with you. We believe in 100% transparency. Regards
A BURNING BRAIN REPORT FCTC, COTPA, Civil Society & Hope
July 31, 2005, New Delhi: The National Convention by Consumer Coordination Council (CCC) supported among others by WHO and UNICEF concluded today. The convention was a well managed affair which was attended by near thousand delegates from India and abroad. The zeal and energy level of Mr. Bejon Misra, the chairman of CCC is worth a mention. The good work he is doing in empowering the consumers and motivating the ground level workers will not find many parallels in India. Besides the main sessions, there were also parallel sessions focusing on separate areas in a specialized way. The session on FCTC with a focus of the success model and its future had Burning Bran Society (BBS) chairperson Hemant Goswami as a speaker. Mr. Hemant mentioned that Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) is the first ever international health treaty ever negotiated under the auspices of any UN agency. The strength of the treaty can be gauged from the fact that 168 countries have signed it after negotiating it for over 4 years and 75 countries have ratified it. Estonia is the latest country to ratify it on July 27, 2005. FCTC provides the basic guidelines for saving the present and future generations from the devastating health, social, environmental and economical consequences of tobacco. Hemant pointed out that the Indian legislation, Cigarette & Other Tobacco Products Act 2003 (COTPA) which has been framed in spirits of the international commitment on tobacco is too soft and needs to be amended to make it more powerful and in tune with the FCTC provisions. Among the many areas for improvement mentioned, Mr. Goswami pointed that the offense of selling tobacco to children or around educational institutes attracts a mere plenty of Rs. 200 under COTPA whereas a similar moral offence of selling obscene material to youngsters attract an imprisonment from three to seven years under section 293 of the IPC. Similarly section 278 of the IPC provides for a fine of Rs. 500 for vitiating the atmosphere and COTPA provides for a mere Rs 200 fine for a similar offence of smoking in public. Article 15(7) of FCTC was also referred to by Mr. Hemant, pointing out that the provision for scope of licensing of tobacco shops which is not even being thought of in India at present is suggested in the FCTC and can prove to be the elixir of tobacco free initiative. The licensing of tobacco shops in India on the line of liquor shops will solve many problems faced in enforcing the laws and regulating the growth of tobacco, emphasized Hemant. He further stressed that the revenue generated by licensing of tobacco products can provide enough resources for the tobacco free initiative and at the same time also help to counter the propaganda of the tobacco corporates. Dr. Shekhar Salkar from Note India pointed out the damage tobacco causes while Dr. AC Tripathi from the Delhi health directorate pointed out the initiative of the Delhi Government in enforcing COTPA. Prof. Manubhai Shah urged everyone to resort to civil judicial action so that the tobacco companies are made to pay through their nose for every health ailment or death resulting from tobacco. Prof. Shah mentioned that we can use the US judicial cases as examples to stress for relief in the courts.
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