Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a complete ban (with immediate effect) on electronic cigarettes and vapes under the Prohibition of E-cigarettes Ordinance, 2019, yesterday. The ordinance is expected to become a bill in November. According to NDTV, offenders can face a penalty of Rs 1 lakh and a jail term of up to one year. Repeated violations can increase the penalty to Rs 5 lakh and up to three years imprisonment.
The Indian Express quoted her saying, “The Union Cabinet has given the approval to ban e-cigarettes. It means the production, manufacturing, import/export, transport, sale, distribution, storage and advertising related to e-cigarettes are banned.”
WHO congratulates #India ?? for banning #ecigarettes. pic.twitter.com/L5kfhmELnO
— WHO South-East Asia (@WHOSEARO) September 18, 2019
She further added, “Reports say that there are some who are probably getting into the habit of e-cigarettes as it seems cool. It is believed that there are more than 400 brands, none of which is manufactured yet in India. And they come in over 150 flavours.”
The move was welcomed by people but also raised several questions on why other tobacco products (regular cigarettes, gutka, khaini, beedis etc) did not meet the same fate. The Global Adult Tobacco Survey 2 (GATS 2) conducted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in 2018 reveals that 0.02% of adult Indians use e-cigarettes. To put things in context, 11.2% use khaini, 7.7% smoke beedis and 6.8% consume gutka.
People have called out the government’s hypocrisy and asked why other tobacco products haven’t been included in the ban.
Millennials in India:
Are not buying cars
Cannot invest in cryptocurrencies
Cannot purchase or use e-cigarettesWill update the list shortly.
— Somesh Jha (@someshjha7) September 18, 2019
#ecigarettes owners to Government for not banning Cigarettes and Tobacco: pic.twitter.com/YhEu2rNchJ
— Pulkit (@voxxpopli) September 18, 2019
E-cigarettes banned, good. Very good. But curious why we don’t ban real cigarettes and beedis. Is the huge excise and GST collected more important than matters of public health? In that case why all this moral posturing?
— Pritish Nandy (@PritishNandy) September 18, 2019
Government has banned E-Cigarettes because they are injurious to health but government has not banned regular cigarettes. Maine kahaa, hypocrisy ki bhi seema hoti hai.
— Karan Talwar (@BollywoodGandu) September 18, 2019
Are e-Cigarettes more harmful than tobacco ones?
Or
Are e-Cigarettes unable to generate more revenue than Tobacco Cigarettes or hampering the revenue generated by it. ?#SayNoToTobacco?#QuitSmoking
— Deepak Anand ~ دیپک آنند (@deepakaanand) September 19, 2019
Govt. bans sale, production, import, usage of e-cigarettes and vapes!
But Cigarettes are totally legal in India and doesn't cause any health issues! WOW! #ecigarettes #ecigaretteban #vape pic.twitter.com/zwKgHogK74
— Sudeep P Nambiar (@SudeepNbr) September 18, 2019
If governments were concerned about health they would ban every tobacco product.
— 007 (@commongunner) September 19, 2019
Some have even alleged ulterior motives behind the ban saying that the government holds substantial stake in cigarette manufacturing companies like ITC. The tobacco lobby has also been cited as a reason for the same.
https://twitter.com/VibhorVerma92/status/1174270555689836544?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1174270555689836544%7Ctwgr%5E363937393b636f6e74726f6c&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.scoopwhoop.com%2Fnews%2Fgovernment-bans-sale-production-of-e-cigarettes%2F
Who cares about the health risk anyways
The decision to ban the manufacture and sale of #ecigarettes across the country had a direct beneficiary- GOVT OF INDIA
The Centre holds stake, in two of the listed companies with tobacco business — ITC Ltd and VST Industries pic.twitter.com/vMuoEkqUuM
— All India Mahila Congress (@MahilaCongress) September 19, 2019
How many electoral bonds do you think big tobacco bought to have e-cigarettes banned in India?
— Shivam Vij (@DilliDurAst) September 18, 2019
Explaining the ban on e-cigarettes:
The economy is sinking because tobacco industry is in doldrums because millennials are moving from cigarettes to e-cigarettes.
Soultion: Ban e-cigarettes. Promote the tobacco industry.
— Tanushree Mainrai (@MainraiTanu) September 19, 2019
Vaping is banned, because it is bad for your health.
The Government of India holds 28% of ITC directly and through different arms, which generates some 38,000 crores a year on sale of tobacco.
Expect a very fair playing field 🙂
— The Startup Guy™ (@vijayanands) September 19, 2019
Do you think a ban on other tobacco products is imminent? Or is the revenue generated by the tobacco industry a major deterrent in this regard?