Click to play videoNew Delhi: Bidi smoking is one of the largest killers in India than all other forms of tobacco combined. While there are various campaigns and awareness drives against cigarette smoking, no one seems to be mentioning bidis, which apparently is the biggest killer.
Bidis kill 6,00,000 people in India every year. Nearly 85 per cent of the world's bidi tobacco is grown in India. According to a study done by the Health Ministry that finds 70 per cent of tobacco smoked in the country is in the form of bidis.
The states with maximum bidi smoking are Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim.
And the fall-out is deadly. Cancer of the oral cavity, pharynx, oesophagus and lungs together account for 75 per cent of tobacco related cancers in the country.
“The mortality rate from bidi smoking is much higher than cigarette smoking and overall mortality rate from tobacco smoking is even higher,” says Editor, Bidi Smoking and Public Health, Prakash C Gupta.
An emphasis on health does eventually turn things around for some smokers. A security guard, Dinesh Chand Yadav, who started smoking bidis while still in school, soon started smoking around five to six packs, which is about 150 bidis every day.
“Life was meaningless. I was suffering from many problems due to bidi smoking and one day I just made up mind to quit smoking,” says Dinesh Chand Yadav.
“Dinesh was put on a rigorous treatment. We had four to five sessions with him,” says Consultant, Smoking cessation, Dr Sajeela Maini.
However, the question is whether there should be more regulation. Bidi making presently receives preferential treatment as a cottage industry. As it is unorganised and unregulated, it is not taxed at the same level as the rest of the tobacco industry.
Currently taxes on bidis are thirty times lower than that of cigarettes on per kilo basis. The Health Ministry has recommended that taxes be on par with non-filter cigarettes, which would raise the price of a pack of 25 bidis from Rs four to Rs eight.
However, whether that actually happens or has the desired effect is something one will have to wait and watch.
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