WHY GOVERNMENT DOES NOT BAN TOBACCO/CIGARETTE AND ALCOHOL?

Tobacco and cigarette smoking causes cancer; 95% of cancers of the mouth are caused by Tobacco. On average, every 6 seconds one person dies of tobacco cancer. Overconsumption of alcohol leads to serious liver, kidney, and mental problems. If the government, as well as normal citizens, knows about the harmful effects of cigarette smoking, alcohol, and tobacco consumption then why it doesn't impose a permanent ban on it. Let's try to analyze the impact of tobacco industries in India as well as in the world.

Problems against imposing the ban

There is no lack of awareness in today's generation regarding addiction to anything. Still, the Indian government cannot ban the manufacturing of tobacco products and selling of alcohol due to the following reasons:

• India is the 2nd largest producer of tobacco in the world after China.
• If tobacco would be declared illegal, it would result in the loss of 50-60 lakh farmers in India.
• In Addition, the normal tobacco product manufacturers, sellers, transporters, etc., that are estimated to be 5 crore people, would also become unemployed. India is already facing unemployment problems for the last few years.
• The tobacco and alcohol ban would increase its black marketing, which would result in an increase in their prices, and profit of the same would go into the pockets of the black marketers and government would get nothing out of it.
• Today's government would not ban their large source of income as it is yielding the GDP and helping them to run the country efficiently.
• However, the states like Gujarat, Bihar, Nagaland, etc. have banned the use of alcohol but at the same time, black marketing is also at its peak in these states.
• There is an anti-smoking law in India that prohibits smoking in public areas or areas around educational institutes. It also prohibits persons less than the age of 18 to smoke or consume tobacco. Still, many of them do it.

Excise tax in five states is in ten thousand of crores

Tobacco industries' Manipulations on Politics and Health

If we talk about a scenario around the world, there are some interesting but scary facts about the tobacco industry and their tactics. Tobacco and cigarette smoking causes 7 million deaths in a year, becoming the most destructive inventions in human history. There are anti-smoking laws imposed but no government in the world has imposed a permanent ban, not even Gulf country governments.

Tobacco and alcohol brands contribute significantly to the government budget of their countries. Politicians too won't try to defame them to avoid interrupting into government's budget and also to save their own political careers. Also, these industries pay millions to celebrities and athletes to promote the poison they manufacture. On the contrary, in the US, they also fund anti-smoking campaigns, tobacco rehab centers, etc. due to which the government too earned profit through fines. This move had impacts all around the world and other countries started following the same thing.

Exponential Growth in the US after the 1990s' anti-smoking campaign

Tobacco industries are selling deadly poison and the government is saving them through the backdoor techniques like this. They not only encourage cigarette smoking but also imprint some useless warnings on the packets that nobody pays attention to. We can see that people are mature enough to understand the side effects but never stop consuming. In addition, smart employees such as marketers, lawyers, scientists, etc. are hired by these industries to help them grow exponentially.

As a result, 27.675 million cigarette cartons (1 carton = 200 cigarettes) are produced throughout the world in a year which is equal to 2.262 million kilograms of waste. Consequently, the tobacco industries earn an enormous profit of $765 billion which rewards both the manufacturers as well as the government but costs the lives of 7 million people.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, the number of people consuming tobacco, alcohol, and other addictive items is increasing. We are not only causing harm to ourselves but also causing potential damage to the environment. Large-scale deforestation takes place to prepare the cigarette fuel (rolling paper). It is obvious from the analysis that it is out of the government's league to ban tobacco and alcohol. We, as aware citizens, still have the option not to consume it or to quit it. Our health is the most beautiful and important wealth and it is worth it not degrading.

COAL SHORTAGE, HEATWAVE, AND POWER CUTS

Our country is currently going through long power cuts, heavy coal shortage, and strong heatwave altogether. The weather during the months March and April is as hot as that of months May and June. It is clear from the current scenarios that people were neither ready for climate change and nor for the coal shortage. Let us examine these major issues in this article.

Potential Heatwave in India as per European Space Agency

Coal Shortage and its Reasons

The urgency for coal shortage in India was earlier reported during August 2021 when thermal power plants from various states indicated for upcoming danger of electricity crisis due to unavailability of coal. The Union Coal Minister, Prahlad Joshi, admitted about the same during September 2021 and assured for its improvement. Now, the situation has become adverse because of increase in demand of electricity during summers. Let us see the possible reasons behind coal shortage.

Increase in International Prices of Coal

European countries faced the coal crisis during 2020-21 due to sudden increase in demand of electricity because of unseasonably cold weather conditions during summer. On the other hand, China also faced electricity crisis in 2021 because the Chinese Government stopped coal imports from Australia (diplomacy issues) and switching electricity generation through renewable resources but failed.

Increase in Coal Prices in 2021-22

Apart from these two incidents, the Russian invasion is also the reason for market fluctuations of everything across the world. The coal price has increased $250-$300 per Ton which is highest in the last 13 years. The imported coal in August 2021 was 42% less than that of August 2020 which is the major reason for India's coal shortage.

High Dependency, Less Production

India is one of the world's largest producers, consumers, and importers of coal as the production is not sufficient. 70% of electricity is produced through coal and 73% of electricity generated is through the coal produced in India. As the coal imported lately is lesser, India should have stepped up to produce more coal to compensate the demand but reverse happened. 

The production dipped because of bad monsoon which hindered the production as well as transportation of coal. More than 70% of total thermal power plants in India were running on 50% of their capacity and had coal stock less than what should have been more. In addition, the electricity production from hydro power plants this year is 30-40% less than the previous year.

 

Heatwave

India and Pakistan have seen the worst heat waves this summer. Though heat waves are normal in India, but the average temperature of only March month itself is highest in the last 122 years. Another heatwave is expected in May-June month which is the result of drastic climate change. The scientists of Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) forecasted that the upcoming heatwaves can be deadly as a lot of people work in extreme heat with no shield or protection.

Data of various states and deaths during 2010-15 heatwave

The increased heat has further increased demand of electricity, while thermal power plants of various states have no answers. There are large number of fruit vendors, construction workers, farmers, etc. who are in potential danger as heatwave can cause skin problems such as rashes, infection, serious illness, and even skin cancer because of Ultra Violet (UV) radiations.

Consequences

In states like Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, etc. it has officially been announced that there will be power cuts for some hours. According to reports, the shortage of electricity is of 62.3 crore unit with highest 3000 MW in Uttar Pradesh. Long power cuts are hurting normal households, small factories, industries, etc. and slowing down numerous day to day activities. This is a joint effect of decreasing coal shortage and increasing hot weather.

In India, heatwaves have caused deaths in the past: 3000 people lost their lives in 1998 Andhra Pradesh, 1500 deaths in 2010, 2332 deaths in 2015, and so on. There is already an alert in the North-Western part of India, especially in Delhi. Some districts have already crossed 48-49 degrees in early May. A study of country's top meteorologists shows that around 17,000 people have died in the last 50 years due to heatwave, which is certainly not a good sign.

Solutions 

For coal shortage there should not be immediate solutions. We require long term solutions for this problem because coal is an essential resource in our life. We have to reduce our dependency on thermal power sources. The solar power plants should be encouraged more. Other sources such as hydro energy, geothermal energy, wind energy, biomass, etc. should be an alternative for fossil energy sources.

Whole world is switching to Renewable energy

Non-fossil resources are not only productive but also an environmental friendly solution because they cause less pollution. In addition, the other usage of coal such as chemical production, paper, textile, metal,etc. should be reduced for some time in order to compensate for electricity. We should also step forward by using energy only when required and avoid wasting electricity.

Conclusion

We should not ignore the potential threats approaching us. Overpopulation, increasing pollution, unsegregated waste disposal, unregulated power usage, and so many factors are responsible to boost the consequences of climate change to severely affect all of us. We may not feel it, but heatwave is a silent pandemic that we should not ignore. We should take proper precautions while going out in sunlight to prevent as much harmful radiations to penetrate into our skins as possible.

Things to keep in mind in this heatwave

Soon, researchers will come up with solutions for implementing alternate energy sources to compensate electricity requirements. In this hot summer, we should not forget to hydrate not only ourselves but also birds and animals. The situation is unstable and it would be difficult for everyone if the multiple crisis simultaneously keep happening in our country.

THE DOWNFALL OF INDIAN MEDIA

Once there was a time mass media streams used to show reality behind the fake news being circulated over the social media. Today, the situation is exactly opposite for the Indian media. The standard, especially of television media houses, has fallen to the extent that it has become extremely toxic and responsible for brainwashing people. Let's try to recognize the reasons for Indian media's downfall and possible solutions for it.

What's Wrong with our Media?

The newspapers had moderate impact on us throughout the years and it will keep on positively impacting the intellectual as well as less intelligent audience. But if we talk about television media, you will see there are some serious demerit points that led to nothing but letting down the standard of the whole system of mass media.

(i) The lust for TRP: 

The Indian media houses have converted themselves from information institutions into money making corporation. The low quality news contents with some additional masala tadka or fake news helps them to get more TRP (Television Rating Point). They convert their studios into fish market where the anchors and their guests just shout to prove their point and grab audience's attention.

When a particular topic trends, other media houses show the same thing again and again by which the media houses would make money but in return the normal audience have been heavily brainwashed.

(ii) Easy Manipulation: 

Media houses are very much fond of creating sensational stories out of news that has nothing to do with reality. To make a powerful news report or a documentary, powerful research and hard work is required which is time consuming. The debates on unnecessary topics with no conclusion or consciences are comparatively less time consuming and TRP is already yielding money to these TV channels then why they would even bother to show what really matters.

Different channels, different anchors, same policy

(iii) Pathetic Reporters

Earlier, there used to be professional people who look decently presentable in reading the news to provide right information to audience. Nowadays, most of the news anchors shout during the live debate to grab the audience attention. They are merely actors who are just acting in the name of anchoring but people listen to them as they are professional with knowledge, and that's where brainwashing begins.

How Indian Media is able to Manipulate Us?

Media is known as 4th Pillar of Democracy. This statement is linking media with democracy as well as politics. The Media houses are paid from various political parties; sometimes the words that are spoken in the debate are scripted just to create controversy. The problem arises when the viewers starts taking seriously everything they listen to.

The debate policy became successful in 2014 due to which Arnab Goswami, news anchor of channel Republic India got fame. Multiple media channels started copying the same policy to gain TRP which destroyed the art of reporting and documentation. Gradually, the whole concentration shifted towards biased reporting, defaming, and conspiracy theories which eventually hurt the freedom of speech.

Current situation of the paid media

It is not wrong if I say audience are also responsible for this. Yes, you heard it right. Indian media knows that a genuine news and well made documentation are less likely to gain attention as compared to a senseless debate. This is the reason why sometimes Art films fail at the box office. Media shows what they know people will see it, no matter they like it or hate it and that's where they're winning it by deceiving the entire nation.

We deserve to know the truth; we do not deserve to be manipulated towards things that have nothing to do with us. We should unsubscribe the news channels that show things which are invaluable or misleading until they improve themselves and come up with content that is true, valuable, and knowledgeable.

Conclusion

The ability to think critically is not a difficult job to do. The difference between right and wrong should not be a topic of debate. It is our duty to say anything after examining critically what we see, listen, and think. We are not robots fed up with instructions. Our political interests and religious beliefs should never be the reasons for clashes with human beings who have both of them different from us. This is not about media, this is about us; we as a nation should look into truth and lies.