Marlboro Lights pe GST nahi aaya hai abhi tak. Uska packet ka rate Gold Flake Lights se kam hai”.
A spectator, having a chai-sutta, I heard the young IT professional squabbling with the pan walah. I couldn’t help but smile at the valiant attempt by the guy to save 20 bucks. It was the last week of the month. Understandably, like most of the bachelors in the nation, he is broke after the first fifteen days of the month, and even twenty rupees seems like a million dollars.
“Why buy cigarettes when you have no money to spare?” is a very logical question. But is it a reasonable question to ask a person who is desperately craving for a shot of nicotine when he is stressed out from work. If you tell him cigarettes will kill you when he is buried under office pressure, do you think he cares about it at that moment? “Kal marunga na, abhi toh shanti se cigarette peene do”. All he wants is a booster that will keep him pumped for the next hour or so during which he can quickly get the work done with and be free from his tormenting team lead. Or probably he went through that tiring ordeal already and only wants to relax in the company of his ciggy.
I have been a chain smoker for almost a decade. I started for no apparent reason. Definitely not as a style statement, not because of peer pressure. It was my own conscious choice to try out cigarettes, and I liked it. Back then, Goldflake lights used to cost just three rupees. But in 10 years it has increased a whopping 500%, ie, a 100% increase in every two years. No other commodity has seen such a price rise, not even gold. And how did this help anybody? The government made a lot of money from indirect taxes. ITC is still continuing its tobacco production. Why ITC is even listed on the stock exchanges.
But what about the frustrated smoker?
He is on the verge of tears because he has to pay more money to smoke the same damned cigarette. The smoking ban by a union minister, Anbumani Ramadoss just made it even worse for smokers. They run around like the mutants in X-Men. Hunted to pay fines because they are smoking.There are no earmarked smoking zones which make sure any cop can take money from you under some or the other pretext. We all know how honest and hardworking they can be (pun intended). Putting pictures of people with diseases caused by chewing tobacco in cigarette packets. Isn’t it false advertising forced by the Government of India. Just a food for thought.
People who used to smoke filtered and refined cigarettes have downgraded to cheaper but more harmful brands. From Gold Flake Kings to Mini Gold Flake or Chotta Goldflake then to Flake. I have even seen people wearing a blazer, a tie sporting a complete corporate look and smoking a beedi. Why even I have been a victim of such circumstances (no tie though). Ironic but true. The price rise is not a deterrent to smoking cigarettes, but an accelerant to smoking related diseases because of smoking cheap cigarettes.
Smoking is injurious to health. No doubt about it. I am not promoting the use of cigarettes, but I firmly believe that a person has a right to choose. Individuals who smoke cigarettes are aware of the health hazards. Forced moral policing is the last thing you want to do. Funny thing about tobacco though – the most harmful thing is one of the highly taxed commodity. In other words, the government does not mind fleecing money from people who are already on a death wish. And what does it do with this money? Is there a way to audit how the money is being spent? Keep aside the nonsmokers, at least the smokers deserve to know.
There is no point in banning tobacco and cigarettes and absolutely no sense in increasing tax rates and prices. At least leave some money with the smokers which they can use later for their medical treatment. Possibly introduce health insurance policies for smokers too; albeit with some changes in the terms and conditions.
Be kind to a smoker, because every cigarette might be his last. Is it too much to ask?