More than Active Smoking, its Passive Smoking that causes more damage! So, I wholeheartedly welcome this ban. Most of the things our Health Minister, Anbumani Ramadoss plans to implement looks so correct to me frm my point of view. Like the 1yr extension of MBBS course etc.(Will write a diff post on that) He should try and ban selling of cigarettes!

After I started working, i see that most of the people here smoke. And the reason they give.. Work Pressure, Tension, Relaxing! I welcome the ban bcoz i feel that the ban will be only Good for them as well as the others who are near them too

Here are some details of the ban:

• Penalty charges for smoking at in public places – Rs 200
• Higher penalties for hotels and industries
• Smoking prohibited in all indoor establishments
• Companies can no longer have designated smoking rooms

Public Places Defined:

So where should people smoke? In their own houses I guess or on the streets or in some designated closed space in a hotel. I don’t feel sorry for them. I don’t see why I should inhale passive smoke when it’s known to be bad for health. I have my rights.

Some people equate the ban to fascism and fanaticism:
What I don’t understand is why people are reacting with so much anger to this ban. For example, an article in the DNA has called this ban the work of fanatics! The ban on smoking in public spaces has been compared to bans against Valentine’s Day celebrations, Boys and Girls sitting together in public parks! What an odd comparison. I am totally against banning the above but I am all for banning smoking in public places as it physically harms others. I am against moral policing but I am all for the rules that will protect my health.

Another article (also in the DNA) by Pravin Nair says:

I just don’t believe it will work. Bans have never worked. Not on smoking…You only drive the problem underground and make it that much more difficult to deal with…

I am not worried smoking goes underground. If smoking goes underground, it is not my business. I just don’t want to get affected by it.

Is there any chance of this ban being overturned?
Anything is possible. The ban almost didn’t go through as tobacco giant ITC as well as the Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI, the apex body of all hotel associations) have filed cases against it. Well, at least for now the Supreme Court is not listening. It shouldn’t. Commercial interest should never come before an individual’s interest.

I hope that the various tobacco and hotel lobbies do not pressurize the government to take back the ban.  Everyone of us has the right to breathe in a smoke-free environment and not get affected by the bad habits of others. And smokers and smoker’s lobbies and those whose business will be affected by the ban on smoking have no right to force us to inhale their poison! This isn’t about moral policing. It’s about the rights of non-smokers.

Well, I am not sure whether it will work, but I sure want to be on the right side of the law when I request someone to refrain from smoking.