A layman’s voice, “Why sell, if it kills?”

Why do they legally manufacture and sell it when it is proven that it can kill? Yes! I am talking about tobacco products.

A paan shop in India is more of a place where you could get more of tobacco based products like cigarettes, gutka, beedis etc. Ironically it’s legally sold with a warning that “It could Kill you” with a huge picture of someone with last stage cancer. Is it really so dangerous? Then why isn’t the government putting a kerb on it? A smoker, whenever he has an urge to smoke, without fear walks up to the cigarette shop and buys his favourite brand and smokes it openly without fear because there is no ban on the sale, it’s legal!
Now let’s check further as to why are these products being sold even though they claim to cause serious damage to the human body?

This is an extract from The Tobacco Institute of India website, tobacco & tobacco Products are a large contributor to the National exchequer by way of Central Excise and State taxes (VAT, Entry Tax etc). The combined tax revenue collected annually from tobacco products is more than Rs. 31,000 crores annually, the government makes a huge profit on tobacco product sales, no wonder why they haven’t put up a ban on these products.


 
Now let’s have a look at the manufacturing sector. Let’s take for example Rasiklal Manikchand Dhariwal the manufacturer of the well known RMD gutkha and paan masala, the manufacturer boasts of a huge hospital in Valsad, Gujarat by the name of Sheth Shri Rasiklal Manikchand Dhariwal Cancer Hospital. It feels as if they first give you cancer and later treat you for it if you are lucky to survive the damage.



Now we could talk about one of the biggest players in the tobacco industry. From cigarettes to hospitality, ITC is exploring the possibility of entering the healthcare sector in the country. If the shareholders vote for the motion, ITC will go up against established players like Apollo Hospitals and Fortis Healthcare. The capital intensive sector, however, will need to see significant investment by ITC to make its play into the sector and to find a place for themselves. However, given that the medical facilities-to-population ratio or doctor-to-patient ratio and even the hospital beds-to-patients ratio in the country are quite high; there's more than enough space for ITC to make its mark. In 2015-16, ITC’s total FMCG business had a consolidated revenue of Rs28, 409.83 crore in which cigarettes contributed Rs 18,685.98 crore and non-cigarettes at Rs 9, 723.85 crore.

Well, the most popular and expensive cigarette brands are manufactured by the ITC; every pack of cigarettes holds a huge warning. Yet it is sold. So actually the government isn’t putting up a ban on these products as it would lead to a heavy tax loss and the companies manufacturing the poison are also providing the antidotes for it.
So in a layman’s words, the government should not be cynical on this issue and should take an initiative to ban the products once and for all. Do you have any suggestions on this topic? We would be happy to read your views on our Facebook page. -WTN