Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Feb 12: Welcoming the implementation of Juvenile Justice Act of 2015, which has come into force from 15th January this year, various Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) working in the health sector have demanded strict implementation of the act that bars sale of tobacco products to minors.
Pertinently, the act prescribes strict punishment to anyone who gives or causes to give tobacco products to children. The act prescribes rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years and a fine which may extend up to one lakh rupees.
“With this act, India has become the only nation in the entire world to impose such a tough penalty for facilitating supply of tobacco and its allied products to minors,” a spokesman of Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI) said here.
E Ulysses Dorotheo, FCTC Program Director of Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA) sighted the amendment as an important and unprecedented development to protect and save the young people from tobacco’s terrible addiction. She termed the act as a shining example for other countries to follow.
Javaid Ahmad Khan, who is the Chairman of National Alliance for Tobacco Control at the Aga Khan University in Pakistan, said: “Taking a good example from India our organization is requesting Government of Pakistan to do the same in this country as well.”
Dr.Pankaj Chaturvedi, Professor and Surgeon at Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai said as per Global Adult tobacco Survey, the age of initiation of tobacco habits in India is 17 years.
“As per Global Youth Tobacco survey, upto 20% of children in India are users of Tobacco. More than 5500 children /Adolescents start tobacco consumption daily. The India Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) a school-based survey of students in grades 8, 9 and 10 conducted in 2009 highlighted 14.6% of students currently use any form of tobacco. One in five students lives in homes where others smoke, one-quarter of the students have at least one parent who smokes,” he said.
The VHAI spokesman said the COTPA law has various sections which protect children. Section 4 of COTPA Act bars smoking in public places, protecting children from second hand smoke.
Dr Mira Aghi, a pioneer in tobacco control said this Act recognizes the harmful effects of tobacco on human health and at the same time focuses on the tobacco industry’s sinister design to specifically target vulnerable children as their new consumers.
In J&K, 26.6 percent adults consume tobacco in one form or the other while more than 66% of students have expressed desired to quit and have tried in past year, it is therefore important to target the young population, create awareness and enforce the law, the spokesman of VHAI added.
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