Till some time ago, Keralites could be seen puffing cigarettes furtively at bus stands and railway stations (there is already a high court directive against smoking in Kerala), but the Centre's recent ban has received an overwhelming response in the state.
The ban on liquor advertising is an example of policy hypocrisy at play.
An improvement in the wind speed November 21 onwards might bring air pollution levels down.
Global tobacco majors Philip Morris International and Japan Tobacco International on Friday deplored as "discriminatory," the Indian government's decision to ban foreign investment in cigarettes.
This time, Delhi saw a sharp improvement in air quality just ahead of Diwali which can be attributed to intermittent rainfall on Friday and wind speed favourable for the dispersion of pollutants.
Foreign cigarette companies could soon find it harder to sell their products in India. The government is looking into a proposal to ban foreign direct investment (FDI) in the wholesale marketing arms of these companies. It is also exploring the possibility of shifting the import of tobacco products from the open general licence (OGL) to the restricted list.
The city's Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 420 at 8 am on Thursday, compared to 426 at 4 pm on Wednesday. The AQI map prepared by the Central Pollution Control Board showed clusters of red dots (indicating hazardous air quality) spread across the Indo-Gangetic plains.
The air quality is expected to improve further due to wind speed favourable for the dispersion of pollutants.
Dr Ramadoss also played down the controversy over AIIMS Director P Venugopal.
With Delhi recording air pollution levels seven to eight times above safe standards on Monday, the city government announced the return of its flagship odd-even scheme after four years anticipating further deterioration of air quality post-Diwali.
Cross-border advertising, among the few remaining means available to cigarette companies to advertise, without violating laws, is something the World Health Organisation has trained its sights on in its battle against tobacco.
"From October 2, the government would introduce the no smoking policy in all indoor establishments," Ramadoss told reporters in Bangalore on the sidelines of a function.
Air quality in Delhi and its suburbs dropped to the severe category again on Wednesday morning, with smoke from post-harvest paddy straw burning in neighbouring states accounting for one-third of the air pollution in the national capital.
'We first collected samples from all the bomb blast sites.' 'We had to find what was common among them.'
'We like to believe that it's the politicians who impose such bans. But it's the womenfolk of Bihar who made Nitish Kumar enact the ban,' says Ashis Nandy.
Catch all the action from the Upper and Lower House of Parliament.
Senior science journalist, Dinesh C Sharma told rediff.com that the way ahead would require higher public awareness and discourse on these factors and building advocacy for reversing such government policies
'If you keep on irritating the body by allowing all kinds of pollutants to get into it, the body cells are going to get irritated and cancer will come.'
In the last two years, winter sessions have been convened on November 21 and ended in the first week of January.
Deveshwar wondered whether the countries FUNDING the anti-smoking NGOs had pictorial warnings.
A private funeral service was held for Warne's closest friends and family in Melbourne last week but all were invited to Wednesday's televised memorial where his father Keith mourned the loss of "a loving and caring son" and his former team mates remembered a fierce and mischievous competitor.
Presenting a list of words from 2015 that we should leave behind.
A formal decision is expected to be announced next week after the meeting of the Union Cabinet.
The Delhi Police and the Uttar Pradesh police have filed separate first information reports (FIRs) against filmmaker Leena Manimekalai over a controversial poster of her documentary Kaali even as the Indian government urged Canadian authorities to take down all the 'provocative material' in the film.
The world's third largest tobacco company by sales volume, Japan Tobacco Inc, has invested $65 million (Rs 293 crore) in its Indian unit without increasing its shareholding, just days ahead of a government decision to ban foreign direct investment in cigarette manufacturing.
On November 11 we asked our readers if Indian cigarette packs should also have photos detailing the harmful effects of smoking.
A vessel allegedly smuggling cigarettes and some other items from Dubai and carrying a banned satellite phone was intercepted off the Mumbai coast, and five Indians on board were taken into custody, Coast Guard and police officials said on Thursday.
'Have you seen foreign cigarette packets? They only have words warning us about the use of tobacco. While ours have pictures already covering 40 per cent area. I am just saying wait for our study before increasing it.' 'I repeat that I am aware that gutka and tobacco are harmful. Awareness is what we need. We are creating awareness. We are doing it on radio and television.' BJP MP Dilip Gandhi, who says there is no study in India that links tobacco use with cancer and has stayed the increase in size of pictorial warnings on cigarette packets, speaks to A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com
Brushing aside opposition, the government on Tuesday moved to amend the anti-smoking law and proposed radical changes, including ban on sale of loose cigarettes and raising the minimum age of a person buying tobacco products to 21 years from existing 18.
To take the Rs 49,000 crore ITC to the top slot in the highly competitive FMCG business will require some aggression.
The main issue in combating smoking is quality tobacco cessation and counseling services. Without these, there is no way to effectively enforce these bans.
The ban was imposed at the insistence of Congress after a passenger, Richard Reed, tried to ignite a bomb in his shoe in 2001 on a flight from Paris to Miami.
Rajasthan Royals skipper Shane Warne was caught on camera puffing a cigarette inside the Airport premises.
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