AP Govt jobs for No smokers in Rajasthan

Vijayawada: The Rajasthan government has been aptly implementing the policy that only no smokers would get government jobs, said Hemant Updhyay, while addressing the meeting held in connection with the World No Tobacco Day jointly organised by Delhi-based VOICE (Voluntary Organisation in Interest of Consumer Education) and city-based Consumers Guidance Society here on Thursday.

The Rajasthan government has also issued orders making it compulsory to obtain licence for sale, trade, storage and processing of tobacco products, he added. “The Tobacco Board has been extending subsidies to the tobacco farmers to encourage them, which is highly deplorable,” he said.

Dr PVVS Murthy, honorary president of the Federation of Andhra Pradesh Consumer Organisations, presiding over the meeting, stated that the tobacco products fetch revenue of Rs 39,000 crore per annum and that was why the Centre was not serious about controlling tobacco products.

A Jayaprakash, joint secretary of the Federation of Consumers Associations, said that the three children of his friend died of oral cancer after consuming gutka. He deplored that the youth are following the film actors in smoking and drinking. He appealed to the parents to closely watch their children and wean them away from bad habits.

Dr Kannan, Prof and Head of the Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology at Narayana Dental College, said that it was observed that animals or birds do not eat the tobacco leaves in the fields and the humans are not even as intelligent as they are.

Expressing concern over the growing using of tobacco products in the country, Dr Kannan said that the warning signs on the tobacco products are displayed either in English or Hindi but not in vernacular languages. Referring to a recent case, a woman, who suffered earlier breast cancer, was brought to the hospital with oral cancer. She never smoked but her husband did. Due to passive smoking she became the victim, he added.

Dr Divakar Babu, secretary of the Consumers Guidance Society, said that in the name of earning foreign exchange, the Centre is encouraging tobacco cultivation. “Tobacco lobby is so powerful that it is facing hurdles in implementing various enactments against tobacco products,” he added.

MV Shyam Sundar, secretary of Corporate Frauds Watch, said that the tobacco consumption has come down in the USA and it is now concentrating on India to export tobacco products. He said that the Andhra Pradesh government should follow the same policy of Rajasthan government in providing jobs to the non-smokers. Several participants also shared their opinions in the meeting.