This year Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday brought along a special gift for the aam janta in India — the ban on public smoking. Indian Health Minister Anubumani Ramadoss finally had his way after chasing the tobacco smokers for a long long time.

First, it was the ban on onscreen smoking that even targeted top notch stars like Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan. The result is no actor dares to light that offensive roll of tobacco which they sometimes carry for an effective role portrayal in front of the cameras.

Afterwards came the respect for passive smokers. Apparently, if you smoked in front of your maid she has the right to register a complaint against you. Soon, due to an amendment in the traffic laws smoking while driving was ordained illegal.

Then there were talks of introducing pictures/images of diseases caused by smoking on the cigarette box, a law which too was implemented on 2nd October.�

Ramadoss has been pummeled for his radical approach to health problems. Cigarette smoking is a major health concern facing India right now. Will these laws actually help? I, too like many others, have some doubts.
a)� Will these give some more reasons to the cops to earn the extra 50 bucks?
b)� Will smokers come up with ways around these laws? (I am not predicting anything, but the human mind is a great innovative machine in times of ‘crises.)
c)� If India is so serious about banning the tobacco, then why not stop the production altogether? Let tobacco join the bandwagon with heroin, LSD and the likes.

All that said I am still very happy to see the government take action against cigarette smoking. Just that these laws still have some loopholes which the authorities and law enforcers should not ignore. Also, the public health care scheme should include ‘leaving tobacco’ procedures. We know how expensive they are. Maybe the government hospitals should be guided to provide the same at less or no cost.

But yes, it is indeed a pleasure to say goodbye to public smoking!

Tags: · 2nd october, Anubumani Ramadoss, ban, birthday, cops, Health, health minister, India, Indian society, Mahatma Gandhi, smoking, tobacco

Anubumani Ramadoss will surely be the most remembered Health Minister of India. Agreed that he received a lot of flak for his rigorous anti-tobacco campaign and the AIIMS controversy, I bet the gay community of India will always be grateful to the man. Attending the World AIDS meet in Mexico, Ramadoss made a controversial statement when he said, “The fight against AIDS will be significantly advanced when homosexuality is legalized in the country.” Now, this was a complete shocker for the conservative and homophobic Indian community. Currently under section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, men who have sex with men are regarded as criminals as this act is “against the order of nature”.
Well, he makes sense to me. AIDS is a result of multiple partners, among other reasons. So legalising homosexuality will make people more open about their sexual status. Also, dependence on drugs will be reduced. A recent study by United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) finds that a majority of drug addicts in the Indian subcontinent are in fact HIV positive. � The report added that most drug users fell in the age group of 21 to 30 years and that just 20 percent of them used a condom before having sexual intercourse!
� Via newslocale

Tags: · 377, aiims, anti-tobacco, Anubumani Ramadoss, condom, drugs, gay, Health, health minister india, homosexuality, indian penal code, intercourse, legalise, mexico, multiple partners, News, UNODCC, world aids meet