Smoking in India
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Smoking in India has been known since at least 2000 BC when
cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: '' Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternative ...
was smoked and is first mentioned in the Atharvaveda (compiled ). Fumigation (''
dhupa Dhupa (धुप) is, in Indian religions (such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, etc.), the ritual offering of incense during puja to an image of a deity, or other object of veneration. It is also the Sanskrit word for incense or perfume itself. ...
'') and fire offerings ('' homa'') are prescribed in the
Ayurveda Ayurveda () is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. The theory and practice of Ayurveda is pseudoscientific. Ayurveda is heavily practiced in India and Nepal, where around 80% of the population rep ...
for medical purposes and have been practiced for at least 3,000 years while smoking, ''dhumrapana'' (धूम्रपान) (literally "drinking smoke"), has been practiced for at least 2,000 years.
Tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
was introduced to India in the 17th century. It later merged with existing practices of smoking (mostly of cannabis). Smoking in public places was prohibited nationwide from 22 October 2002. There are approximately 120 million smokers in India. According to the
World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of ...
(WHO), India is home to 12% of the world’s smokers. More than 1 million people die every year due to tobacco related illnesses. As of 2015, the number of men smoking tobacco in India rose to 108 million, an increase of 36%, between 1998 and 2015.


History

Cannabis smoking in India has been known since at least 2000 BC and is first mentioned in the Atharvaveda (compiled ). Fumigation (''dhupa'') and fire offerings (''homa'') are prescribed in the
Ayurveda Ayurveda () is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. The theory and practice of Ayurveda is pseudoscientific. Ayurveda is heavily practiced in India and Nepal, where around 80% of the population rep ...
for medical purposes and have been practiced for at least 3,000 years while smoking, ''dhumrapana'' (literally "drinking smoke"), has been practiced for at least 2,000 years. Fumigation and fire offerings have been performed with various substances, including clarified butter ( ghee), fish
offal Offal (), also called variety meats, pluck or organ meats, is the organs of a butchered animal. The word does not refer to a particular list of edible organs, which varies by culture and region, but usually excludes muscle. Offal may also refe ...
, dried
snakeskin Snakeskin may either refer to the skin of a live snake, the shed skin of a snake after molting, or to a type of leather that is made from the hide of a dead snake. Snakeskin and scales can have varying patterns and color formations, providing prot ...
s, and various pastes molded around
incense sticks Incense is aromatic biotic material that releases fragrant smoke when burnt. The term is used for either the material or the aroma. Incense is used for aesthetic reasons, religious worship, aromatherapy, meditation, and ceremony. It may also be ...
and lit to spread the smoke over wide areas. The practice of inhaling smoke was employed as a remedy for many different ailments was not limited to just cannabis, but also various plants and medicinal concoctions recommended to promote general health. Before modern times, smoking was done with
pipes Pipe(s), PIPE(S) or piping may refer to: Objects * Pipe (fluid conveyance), a hollow cylinder following certain dimension rules ** Piping, the use of pipes in industry * Smoking pipe ** Tobacco pipe * Half-pipe and quarter pipe, semi-circula ...
with stems of various lengths, or chillums. Today ''dhumrapana'' has been replaced almost entirely by
cigarette smoking Tobacco smoking is the practice of burning tobacco and ingesting the resulting smoke. The smoke may be inhaled, as is done with cigarettes, or simply released from the mouth, as is generally done with pipes and cigars. The practice is believed ...
, but both ''dhupa'' and ''homa'' are still practiced.
Beedi A beedi (also spelled bidi or biri) is a thin cigarette or mini-cigar filled with tobacco flake and commonly wrapped in a tendu (''Diospyros melanoxylon'') or ''Piliostigma racemosum'' leaf tied with a string or adhesive at one end. It origi ...
, a type of handrolled herbal cigarette consisting of cloves, ground
betel nut The betel (''Piper betle'') is a vine of the family Piperaceae, which includes pepper and kava. The betel plant is native to Southeast Asia. It is an evergreen, dioecious perennial, with glossy heart-shaped leaves and white catkins. Betel p ...
, and tobacco, usually with rather low proportion of tobacco, are a modern descendant of the historical ''dhumrapana''. Tobacco was introduced to India in the 17th century. It later merged with existing practices of smoking (mostly of cannabis). By the start of the 20th century, tobacco smoking, especially among the youth, had become so common that the more health-conscious sections of the intelligentsia began to take note of public smoking and widespread sale and marketing of tobacco products as a growing social menace.


Landmark case

The Supreme Court in Murli S Deora vs. Union of India and Ors., recognized the harmful effects of smoking in public and also the effect on passive smokers, and in the absence of statutory provisions at that time, prohibited smoking in public places such as auditoriums, hospital buildings, health institutions, educational institutions, libraries, court buildings, public offices, public conveyances, including the railways.


Prevalence

There are approximately 120 million smokers in India. According to the
World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of ...
(WHO), India is home to 12% of the world’s smokers. More than 1 million die each year due to tobacco in India. According to a 2002 WHO estimate, 25% of adult males in India smoke. Among adult females, the figure is much lower at between 13–15%. About 90% of children under the age of 16 years (10th class) have used some form of tobacco in the past, and 70% are still using tobacco products.
Smokeless tobacco Smokeless tobacco is a tobacco product that is used by means other than smoking. Their use involves chewing, sniffing, or placing the product between gum and the cheek or lip. Smokeless tobacco products are produced in various forms, such as che ...
is more prevalent than cigarettes or bidis in India. According to the study, "A Nationally Representative Case-Control Study of Smoking and Death in India", tobacco will be responsible for 1 in 5 of all male deaths and 1 in 20 of all female deaths in the country by 2010. This means approximately 1 million Indians would die annually from smoking by 2010. According to the Indian Heart Association (IHA), India accounts for 83% of the world's heart disease burden, despite having less than 20% of the world's population. The IHA has identified reduction in smoking as a significant target of cardiovascular health prevention efforts.Indian Heart Association Why South Asians Facts Web. 27 April 2015. A survey conducted by the International Institute of Population Science and the
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is an Indian government ministry charged with health policy in India. It is also responsible for all government programs relating to family planning in India. The Minister of Health and Family Welfare ...
, reveals that 56.6% of people in
Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
smoke, the highest rate in the country. 82% of men and 23.5% of women smoke in Kolkata The highest number of beedi smokers are in
Uttarakhand Uttarakhand ( , or ; , ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; the official name until 2007), is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the "Devbhumi" (literally 'Land of the Gods') due to its religious significance and ...
.


Legislation

The first legislation regarding tobacco in India was the ''Cigarettes (Regulation of Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 1975'', which mandated specific statutory health warnings on cigarette packs in 1975. The ''
Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 The Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 or COTPA, 2003 is an Act of Parliament of India enacted in 2003 to prohibit advertisemen ...
'', abbreviated to COTPA, received assent from the President on 18 May 2003. It came into force on 1 May 2004. The Act extends to the whole of India and is applicable to cigarettes, cigars, bidis, gutka, pan masala (containing tobacco), Mavva, Khaini, snuff and all products containing tobacco in any form. Prohibition of sale of tobacco products in an area within 100 yards of any educational institution was brought into force from 1 December 2004.


Regional smoking bans

On 12 July 1999,
Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
became the first state in India to ban smoking in public places when a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court declared "public smoking as illegal first time in the history of whole world, unconstitutional and violative of Article 21 of the Constitution." The Bench, headed by Dr. Justice K. Narayana Kurup, held that "tobacco smoking" in public places (in the form of cigarettes, cigars, beedies or otherwise) "falls within the mischief of the penal provisions relating to public nuisance as contained in the Indian Penal Code and also the definition of air pollution as contained in the statutes dealing with the protection and preservation of the environment, in particular, the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution), Act 1981." In 2007,
Chandigarh Chandigarh () is a planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which a ...
became the first city in India to become 'smoke-free'. However, despite there being some difficulties and apathy by the authorities the Smoke-Free Chandigarh project has been a success story. Taking a cue from the Chandigarh's success, cities like
Shimla Shimla (; ; also known as Simla, the official name until 1972) is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared as the summer capital of British India. After independence, the ...
also followed the Smoke-Free Chandigarh model to become smoke-free. The success of Chandigarh had been widely recognised and the architect of smoke-free Chandigarh
Hemant Goswami Hemant Goswami (born 1981) is an Indian social activist working on social issues like public health, environmental activism, child rights, child labour and many other civil right issues. He is also well known as a voice against tobacco. He is c ...
. was also awarded the Global Smoke-Free Partnership Award for the initiative.


Nationwide public smoking ban

Smoking in public places was prohibited nationwide from 2 October 2008 under the ''Prohibition of Smoking in Public Places Rules, 2008'' and COTPA. The nationwide smoke-free law pertains only to public places. Places where smoking is restricted include auditoriums, cinemas, hospitals, public transport (aircraft, buses, trains, metros, monorails, taxis) and their related facilities (airports, bus stands/stations, railway stations), restaurants, hotels, bars, pubs, amusement centres, offices (government and private), libraries, courts, post offices, markets, shopping malls, canteens, refreshment rooms, banquet halls, discothèques, coffee houses, educational institutions and parks. Smoking is allowed inside one's home or vehicle. Then Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss was quoted as saying, "Smoking on the road or the park will save others from the wrath of passive smoking". Smoking is also permitted in airports, restaurants, bars, pubs, discothèques and some other enclosed workplaces if they provide designated separate smoking areas. Anybody violating this law will be charged with a fine of 5000. The sale of tobacco products within 100 yards of educational institutions is also prohibited.


Pictorial warnings

Rules mandating pictorial warnings on tobacco products were notified on 3 May 2009 came into force from 31 May 2009 after several rounds of amendments and delays. Section 7 of COTPA deals with the "Display of pictorial health warning on all tobacco products packets". It prohibits the production, sale and import of cigarettes or any other tobacco product unless every package of cigarettes or any other tobacco product bears pictorial warnings on its label covering at least 40% of the package. The warnings are changed once a year. The law also prohibited more than two languages from being used on the pack to ensure that the specified warning is legible and prominent.


Advertising

The Cable Television Network (Regulation) Amendment Bill, in force since 8 September 2000, completely prohibits cigarette and alcohol advertisements. With effect from 2 October 2012, the government began screening two anti-tobacco advertisements, titled "Sponge" and "Mukesh", in movie theatres and on television. It is also mandatory for theatres to display a disclaimer on-screen whenever smoking scenes are depicted in the movie. The "Sponge" and "Mukesh" ads were replaced by new ads, titled "Child" and "Dhuan", from 2 October 2013.


In film

Bollywood has a long history of depicting characters smoking. According to a WHO study, tobacco is portrayed in 76% of Bollywood films, with cigarettes making up 72% of all the portrayals. Even though
chewing tobacco Chewing tobacco is a type of smokeless tobacco product that is placed between the cheek and lower gum to draw out its flavor. Some users chew it, others do not. It consists of coarsely chopped aged tobacco that is flavored and often sweetened; ...
and bidis account for the majority of tobacco use in India, cigarettes do make up 20% of the market. Prior to the 1990s, Bollywood portrayed smoking primarily as the vice of villains. The heroes portrayed in classic films were the "poor-but-proud" types. They rescued damsels in distress, performed heroic feats, and beat up gangs of bad guys single-handedly, but never did they risk their image by smoking on screen. Even the villains were classy about the tobacco use, smoking
cigars A cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco leaves made to be smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct components: the filler, the binder le ...
in three-piece suits as they plotted their evil plans. However, the modern day heroes have brought a new tradition of "lighting up a cigarette while performing martial arts stunts." Influenced by Western cinema such as Hollywood films, the heroes in Bollywood movies now have more suave, attitude, and machismo, all which appears to be complemented by the use of cigarettes. As noted by the WHO study, the occurrence of "good guys" in films smoking or using tobacco has gone up from 27% in 1991 to 53% in 2002. Proposed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in May 2005, a smoking ban that prohibited films and television shows from displaying actors or actresses smoking went into effect on 2 October 2005. The Indian government felt that films were glamorizing cigarettes, and with nearly 15 million people going to see Bollywood films on a daily basis, then Health Minister Anubumani Ramadoss claimed that the ban would "protect the lives of millions of people who could become addicted to smoking under the influence of movies." Under the smoking ban, smoking scenes in any movie was prohibited, including any old or historical movies where, some argued, smoking was necessary to make the depiction accurate. If producers wished to show a character smoking, the scene would have to be accompanied by a note saying that smoking is injurious to health, along with disclaimers at the beginning and end of films. During the tobacco ban, the use of tobacco was still implied in movies and television, even if it was not explicitly shown; it was "sung and danced about" instead. So Bollywood, in conjunction with tobacco companies, was still able to get around the smoking ban. Bollywood was also able to bypass the tobacco ban because of the lack of enforcement. Corruption within the government and police lead to officials not being successfully impose such policies, such as the smoking ban in cinema. As noted by one, "The authorities aren’t organized enough...I’ll just pay a
bribe Bribery is the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty. With regard to governmental operations, essentially, bribery is "Corru ...
." The
Delhi High Court The High Court of Delhi ( IAST: ''dillī uchcha nyāyālaya'') was established on 31 October 1966, through the ''Delhi High Court Act, 1966'', with four judges, Chief Justice K. S. Hegde, Justice I. D. Dua, Justice H. R. Khanna and Justice S ...
subsequently overturned the ban in January 2009, citing that the ban was a form of
censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...
that restricted the right to freedom of speech. Anti-smoking ads must be screened at the beginning of the movie and during the interval. In addition, a disclaimer must be displayed on-screen during each scene where smoking is present.
Woody Allen Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...
refused to release his film ''
Blue Jasmine ''Blue Jasmine'' is a 2013 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Woody Allen. The film tells the story of a rich Manhattan socialite (Cate Blanchett) who falls on hard times and has to move into her working-class sister's (Sally Ha ...
'' in India because he objected to anti-smoking ads that appear before and during any film that depicts smoking. "Due to content in the film, it cannot be shown in India in its intended manner. Therefore, the film is not scheduled to play there." Deepak Sharma, COO of PVR Pictures, stated, "Allen has the creative control as per the agreement. He wasn't comfortable with the disclaimer that we are required to run when some smoking scene is shown in films. He feels that when the scroll comes, attention goes to it rather than the scene. We had to abide by the law and we don't have control over the film, so it's alright." In August 2014, an expert committee headed by Malayalam film director, script writer, and producer
Adoor Gopalakrishnan Adoor Gopalakrishnan (born 3 July 1941) is an Indian film director, script writer, and producer and is regarded as one of the most notable and renowned filmmakers in India. With the release of his first feature film '' Swayamvaram'' (1972), Go ...
recommended that the Kerala government remove the warnings. Gopalakrishnan stated, "When the movie is on, these messages appear in bold and there is a format which the filmmakers must follow. People won't go to drink after watching these scenes. These warnings that pop-up hampers the continuity or the flow of the film. We are not asking to completely do away with the warnings; it can be shown before the film and during the interval. Why are there warnings only for alcohol and smoking scenes? There are fight scenes, item dance and rape scenes shown in films without any warnings."


Hookah law

The nationwide smoking ban did not prohibit consumption of hookah in hookah bars. However, several cities in India have banned consumption of hookah in hookah bars. Police raids usually focus on punishing the owners and operators of hookah bars rather than the customers. Customers are usually fined while owners may face stiff fines and/or jail time. It is still legal to purchase hookahs at shops and consume them at home. Authorities generally apply
Section 144 Unlawful assembly is a legal term to describe a group of people with the mutual intent of deliberate disturbance of the peace. If the group is about to start an act of disturbance, it is termed a rout; if the disturbance is commenced, it is then ter ...
(Unlawful assembly) of CrPC to shut down hookah bars. Governments also use the COTPA. Hookah bars are banned in state of Maharashtra. Other regions that have bans are:


E-cigarette law

Import, sales and consumption of e-cigarettes is banned in India. Punjab became the first state in India to ban vaping in 2014. Following the incidents of mass confiscation of E-cigarettes from various teenagers in schools of Delhi and NCR, Indian government banned sale and import of e-cigarettes.


Key Players

The market largely consists of small retailers and importers, but with a few organized players such as ITC with their brand EON, Godfrey Philips with the brands Zest and Verge, and Vape Stop which is an aggregator of international brands.


See also

* Smoking in Bollywood *
Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 The Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 or COTPA, 2003 is an Act of Parliament of India enacted in 2003 to prohibit advertisemen ...
* Koolimadu#Anti Tobacco Initiative


References


External links


Prohibition of Smoking in Public Places Rules, 2008
{{Smoking nav, state=collapsed Articles containing video clips