Smoking banned. Good beginning.

Government of India should be congratulated for taking a bold decision of banning cigarette smoking in public places. The decision will go a long way in curbing this fashion tagged habit in young community to look modern and carefree. It will also strengthen efforts to educate them about its ill effects and be responsible for others right to breathe in smoke free environment.

The main culprit is the Nicotin in tobacco. Tobacco chewing also is equally dangerous to health and must be banned. Mere public awareness or health education is not enough to curb this age old habit in many people. There should be law for restricting or banning production, distribution, sale and consumption of tobacco.

Both cigarette and tobacco chewing are injurious to health but liquor consumption is not only injurious to physical health but affects mental health also. It ruins the economy of poor, worsens family relations and promotes violence. Still, government is keeping shut mouth policy as regards banning this greatest evil habit. The reason seems to me, the income to government through taxes levied on liquor.

If the liquor is banned, this income will be lost, but then, many poor families will be rehabilitated. Most of the news items relating to accidents, violence, atrocities or even terrorism or suicide attacks reveal that the persons committing crime were under influence of liquor. Liquor addict is ready to do anything to get the liquor, and the person under its influence doesn’t know or can’t understand the consequences of his actions. This leads to behavior prompted by only desire or temporary emotion.

Mahatma Gandhi gave a call for total ban on liquor, but that call got transformed into convenient and lucrative prohibition policy based on licensing and permits to liquor shops and consumers. It also distinguished legal and illegal brands of liquor. To my mind, legal or illegal, country or foreign liquor are all dangerous and do no good to well being of the person and affects badly his personal behavior.

Being a democratic country, government probably thought that the decision to ban liquor shop should be taken by voting. In Maharashtra, the decision to have liquor shop in village is vested with voting by women. This decision, though looks just, provides ways for manipulating voting by influence of power or money. I wish to ask a simple question. What is the propriety of voting in deciding an inherent undesirable thing as bad. Which woman or for that matter even any sensible person in the village will endorse liquor consumption. Some people argue that liquor acts like tranquilizer or physical need of workers and poor. It is totally wrong to advocate or permit use of liquor by them instead of educating them about its ill effects.

With the ban on smoking, my hopes have brightened that some day liquor also will be banned totally by the government and one of the main cause of unhappiness and poverty in low income group people will be eliminated.