JAIPUR: Hundred per cent tax should be imposed on tobacco products to reduce their consumption significantly, health activists here have said.
“An increase in tax levied on tobacco products has not only increased revenue of the state, but also reduced their consumption significantly. Hence the government should continue the tax policy,” said Satyen Chaturvedi, executive director of Rajasthan Voluntary Health Association.
“Many lives can be saved by discouraging consumption of tobacco. It is in larger public interest. So the government should increase tax charged on tobacco products and also run special campaign to aware tobacco users about its harms,” he said.
“The state also got WHO DG Award for tobacco control efforts and now the government should impose 100 per cent tax for more effective tobacco control,” Association’s project director Vikram Singh said.
There has been a constant increase in tax levied on tobacco products in the state for the last four years and the trend should continue for good health of people, he said.
The tax imposed on tobacco products in the state was 12 per cent in 2009-10, 20 per cent in 2010-11, 40 per cent in 2011-12, 50 per cent in 2012-13 and 65 per cent in 2013-14.
Referring to a worldwide research, Pulmonologist Dr Virendra Singh said that 10 per cent increase in tax charged on tobacco products reduces their consumption by 8 per cent.
“Increase in taxes charged on tobacco products discourages people to use the tobacco which is an effective way to curb tobacco use,” he said.
Singh said that estimated 32 per cent people use tobacco product and almost half of the people who start consuming them in adolescence die due to tobacco related diseases.
He said that the average age when boys start consuming tobacco in the state is 17 years. The situation is even worse in case of girls who start consuming tobacco at an average age of 14.
According to the Global Adult Tobacco Survey India (GATS), a survey among the age group of 15 years and above revealed that nearly 35 per cent of the adult Indian population consumes some form of tobacco.
As per the Global Youth Tobacco Survey 2009, 14.6 per cent of 13-15 year old students in India were using tobacco in some form.
Ayurvedic medicine experts say that while addiction to tobacco use cannot be stopped suddenly, it can certainly be reduced gradually.
“The main Ayurvedic psychological approach towards quitting smoking or other addictions is to not stop all of a sudden but to reduce in gradual steps. The idea is to notice everything about the act,” said Dr Vyanketesh Joshi, MD Ayurveda and Chief trustee of Mumbai-based Siddh Dhyan Foundation.
“Increased attention should be given to all sensations, sounds and smells while consuming tobacco. If this is practiced with total dedication, consciousness will do the rest all by itself,” he added.
Dr Meghna Shah, Dean of Homoeopathic institute ‘The Other Song’ in Mumbai, recommends help from a professional homoeopath for “constitutional remedy” for a person intending to quit tobacco usage. She says this remedy has the potential to strengthen a person both physically and psychologically.
“There are even some homoeopathic remedies that make the person develop distaste for tobacco,” she said.
World No Tobacco Day is observed every year on May 31 and intends to encourage a 24-hour period of abstinence from all forms of tobacco consumption across the globe, which currently leads to 5.4 million deaths worldwide annually. -PTI
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