India in Uphill Anti-tobacco Fight as World Anti-smoking Treaty Takes Force
3/3/2005 New Delhi, India Tribune de Genève (Geneva Tribune) India, which accounts for one-sixth of tobacco illnesses worldwide, faces an uphill battle to crack down on the use of the product as a global anti-smoking treaty takes effect, officials say. India, one of the early ratifiers of the tobacco control measure that came into operation last weekend, has already passed a law to tackle tobacco use in the country where 2,200 people die daily from tobacco-related diseases. But the government has found it tough going to implement the legislation that includes measures banning smoking in public places. "Only a holistic approach can work. The campaign should combine coercive methods with education," said Sajeela Maini, president of the Tobacco Control Foundation of India. At the moment people in the country of over one billion flout the law, smoking nearly everywhere they please. Shopowners have also paid little heed to the law forbidding them from selling tobacco products near schools. Authorities have been relying on an overstretched police force to enforce the anti-tobacco legislation which contains fines of 200 rupees (4.50 dollars) for smoking in public places, a sizeable sum in a country where up to 400 million people live on less than a dollar a day. But with corruption rampant and major crimes to tackle, cracking down on tobacco miscreants has been low on the police's priorities. So for the moment, the main thrust is educational. "Our plan is to focus on information, education and communication with the help of social [...]