Breaking New Grounds in Tobacco Control - Voluntary Health ...

the process of implementation of the new
pictorial health warning. More than a month
has passed since the warnings have come
into effect but most of the leading brands
have not printed the new pictures.”
Source: Deccan Chronicle, New Delhi, 11 January, 2012
Survey finds tobacco sold within
100m of schools in 5 states
Tobacco is openly available outside schools
even though a ban exists on its sale within
100 yards of a school premise. A study in
five states - Assam, Jammu and Kashmir,
Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan - has
found that more than 48% of educational
institutions had tobacco products being
sold within 100 yards.
According to the ministry, nearly 37%
children in India start smoking before they
reach 10 years, and each day about 5, 500
children begin tobacco use.
Conducted in June, 2011, by the Voluntary
Health Association of India (VHAI) and five
other partner organizations, the study found
that despite having the rules notified by
the health ministry, tobacco vendors were
openly selling tobacco products within 100
yards of educational institutions.
The government agencies, however, had not
taken any action against the vendors.
According to Global Youth Tobacco Survey
(GYTS) conducted among the students
in India, 14.1% of youth use some form
of tobacco products, 51.7% purchase
cigarettes from stores and kiosks and 72.5%
who bought cigarettes in a store were not
refused purchase despite being minors.
“By permitting sale of tobacco products
outside educational institutions alongside
For the Millions
n 68
candies and soft drinks, young people will
get the misleading message that tobacco in
any form is normal and socially acceptable”,
said Bhavna B Mukhopadhyay, executive
director of VHAI.
In the study, around 557 educational
institutions were visited for the survey in
five districts - Golaghat in Assam, Srinagar
and Budgam in Jammu and Kashmir,
Jagatsinghpur in Orissa, Shahjahanpur in
Uttar Pradesh and Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan.
About 47.5% of the educational institutions
had tobacco products being sold within
100 yards in the six districts.
Section 6(a) of Cigarettes and other Tobacco
Products (Prohibition of Advertisement
and Regulation of Trade and Commerce,
Production, Supply and Distribution) or
COTPA, 2003 mandates that the owner of
a place where tobacco products are sold
should prominently display a board of
60cm x 30cm specifying the warning, in
the applicable Indian language(s), that
“sale of tobacco products to a person
under the age of 18 years is a punishable
offence”.
The survey reports that of all the tobacco
vendors observed in the six districts
(175), only 15 had the required boards on
the shop. Of these 15 shops, 12 were in
Jhunjhunu, two in Shahjahanpur and one
in Golaghat. The remaining 160 vendors
did not have the required signage.
Among the shops, where the signage was
displayed, 13.3% were observed selling
tobacco products to minors. The shops
without signage also had 16.25% incidence
of tobacco products being sold to minors.
The presence of no-smoking signage in
educational institutions was less than 5%