New Delhi: India is
on the edge of the historical tax reform. While the country trusts that the
Hon’ble Prime Minister and Finance Minister will take right decisions for
healthier India, it is important to note that no matter how hard bidi lobby is
trying for lower rates in GST, countrymen are sure that bidi will not be
exempted and will be taxed as other tobacco products. Out of 12 lac deaths in
India every year from tobacco, bidi alone is taking away 6 lac lives. It
accounts for nearly 80 – 90 % of total smoked products in India. Number of
bidis sold is 8 times the number of cigarettes.
“The
Government should make all tobacco products prohibitively expensive in the GST
era. There is no justification for giving any subsidy to any product that kills
every second user prematurely," Dinesh Trivedi, Member of Parliament, former
Union Railway Minister said.
A recent letter from 108 cancer
centers led by Dr RA Badwe, Director Tata Memorial Center, to PM Modi stated
that “GST is a golden opportunity to correct the historical aberrations in
tobacco taxation in India. In the interest of citizens of India, especially
future generations, we sincerely urge you to put all tobacco products including
bidis in the category of demerit goods.”
“We are sure that the Hon’ble PM and FM will
tax all tobacco products including bidi at the highest category in GST. Bidis are consumed by 9.2% of adult population
& cigarettes by 5.7% as per the Global Adult Tobacco Survey. It is known
that bidis account for a very high percentage of tobacco-related deaths and a
product leading to 6 lacs deaths cannot be taxed at lower rates,” said Dr
Harit Chaturvedi, Chairman, Oncology, Max Hospital.
यह भी पढ़िए :प्रभारी मंत्री की मौजूदगी में करौली विधायक ने सांसद पर लगाए रिश्वत खोर के आरोप
यह भी पढ़िए :प्रभारी मंत्री की मौजूदगी में करौली विधायक ने सांसद पर लगाए रिश्वत खोर के आरोप
In
PM Modi’s dream of #SwasthaBharat, social media is the fastest way of reaching
masses. A recent campaign by @VoTVIndia on twitter have messages for PM Modi demanding
bidi to be in demerit category. These messages are urging PM Modi and FM Arun
Jaitley to tax bidi in the highest category. Some very graphic memes have been
shared bringing out the reality of bidis. Nearly
87,164 people on Facebook engaged in conversations on this policy ask,
comprising #OneTobaccoTax, reached out to approximately 1.3 million
people. Till now, 1474 tweets have been sent out to PM Modi and FM Arun
Jaitley, which have been viewed 283,757 times, asking for inclusion of Bidi
under the highest GST rate along with other tobacco products. Additionally, 747 #OneTobaccoTax supporters on an online flash
mob generated tweets and posts to PM Modi, that were simultaneously viewed by
7,12,239 people on Twitter and Facebook.
Ashwini
Kumar Chaube, BJP MP from Buxar, Bihar, said: "As a former Health Minister
of Bihar, I had banned gutka and raised taxes on tobacco products including
bidi. I am sure the GST council will put all tobacco products in the highest
tax category. It will save millions of lives."
As
per one estimate, nearly 2.5 lac children are engaged in bidi rolling. Women
constitute upto 95% of total employment in bidi manufacturing and all of them
are in very poor condition. Infact, the U.S. Customs Service banned the import
of bidis produced by Ganesh Bidi Works in Mangalore, India, after receiving
evidence that the company uses child labor.
The
most effective way to reduce tobacco use is to raise the tax on bidi. Higher
prices reduces consumption and encourages users to quit. Studies of price
elasticity in India find that a 10% increase in prices is estimated to reduce
bidi consumption by 9.1%.
Several
Indian studies show that bidi smoking causes lung diseases, heart diseases,
cancer, vascular diseases etc. Bidi smokers die almost a decade earlier than
non users. A study conducted by the MOHFW and WHO show that the total economic
cost attributable to tobacco use from all disease in India in the year 2011
amounted to staggering 1,04,500 crores. This loss is 1.16 percent of GDP and 12
percent more than combined state and central Government expenditure on health
care in 2011. The total central excise revenue from all tobacco products in the
year 2011 -12 amounted to only 17 percent of the estimated economic cost of Tobacco.
Therefore, even in economic terms, loss
from Tobacco is significantly more than revenue from Tobacco, a demerit good.
यह भी पढ़िए :हरियाणा : युवाअेां को तंबाकू से बचाने में सामूहिक भागीदारी जरुरी
एक टिप्पणी भेजें