Every time the government bans something, people come up with more ways to do it. When former Health Minister A.Ramadoss banned smoking in public places last year, he couldn’t have known that his move would cause the birth of the ‘smoking circle’.



The ban, which came into effect on October 2, 2008, has obviously not had the desired effect. Sure, some people started smoking a bit less due to the numerous constraints but most hardcore smokers just found out other smokers and hence the ‘smoking circle’ was born.



Like everything else in our Constitution the anti-smoking laws have enough jargon to flummox the normal English speaking crowd.But necessity prevails over everything else and here is Section 31 of the Cigarettes and Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 which took an exception to Rule 3 of the Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Rules, 2004, simplified:-


Definitions : In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires,-

1. Hotel, boarding house, guest house, restaurant including the open space surrounding such premises, refreshment rooms, banquet halls, discotheques, canteen, coffee house, pubs, bars, airport lounge, and the like.

2. Section 3(1) does not include open auditorium, stadium, railway station, bus stop/stand in its list of open spaces.

3. Public place defined in Section 3(1) of the Act shall also include work places, shopping malls, and cinema halls.

4. Smoking area shall mean a separately ventilated smoking room that is physically separated and surrounded by full height walls on all four sides, has an entrance with an auto-to them in the Act.


The law goes on for another 400 words listing the areas where people are not allowed to smoke, such as hotels, restaurants and airports. It also lists the officials responsible for ensuring that this law is implemented and the guilty penalised. But what this law has ensured ever since is the popularity of dingy alleys and ‘secluded’ corners in the smoking community. Yes, it is indeed a community, and a very closely knit one at that.



Smokers just need that five inch long rolled up piece of paper and the presence or the lack of matches to strike up a conversation. And it doesn’t need scientific research to prove this. A cigarette is no longer the anti-social animal’s muse. In fact, it seems to have become essential to the kind of bonding that happens in colleges. If you smoke, you are easily accepted into a social group; it is a kind of essential requirement for social integration.

It is no longer rebellion, low self esteem or the environment that is responsible for people to smoke; it is acceptability into certain social groups and the bonding that follows is the real reason. So even as these so-called anti-smoking laws hang like a noose above our heads, hardcore addicts continue to fight over that precious packet of Kings.

As the AICC General Secretary rightly pointed out, there is absolute mis-communication between the government and the Naxals. He has it spot on when he says that the delivery mechanism for implementing government social development schemes in rural areas has collapsed.

A movement that started in the small village of Naxalbari, West Bengal in the late 60s has reached such a magnitude that the Prime Minister considers it “the greatest internal security threat to our country.” This raises a lot of questions about how and why this movement is becoming so popular in the rural and semi-rural states of the nation.



The answer lies in the question itself. The rural and semi-rural states of India have been ignored by the government time and again. There is little or no economic development and taking up arms is probably the only way for these villagers to lead a somewhat dignified life. Practically all states with large areas that have been cut off from mainstream India like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa are under the ‘Red Thumb’ of the Naxals. Hundreds of men and women who haven’t been able to find any kind of employment have joined this movement in the hope of making ends meet. Leave alone employment, even basic facilities like roads, water, sanitation or health facilities are not available to them. Years of neglect and high-handedness by the government have made the people of these areas resentful and bitter and they are venting their frustration through violence.



In the past few years, Naxals have caused damage to the State worth millions and killed hundreds of innocent lives including hundreds of police personnel. The government hasn’t managed to curb their growing influence and acts of destruction.



From the Naxals’ point of view, it is a complete failure of government machinery. After the recent round of attacks in various parts of the country, the government has come up with a unique plan of paying each Naxal a stipend every month.

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs is contemplating some form of financial assistance to the Naxals: a stipend of Rs.2,500 per month and Rs.300,000 as a fixed deposit to those who are willing to lay down arms. The government is confident that the 10,000 Naxals who are currently burning down the nation will surrender once this scheme comes into effect.

Naxalism started due to people’s resentment against the government. Since the resentment has only grown dramatically during the past few years, to what effect will this new strategy work, remains to be seen. Prejudice against the government is so deep that the new ‘bribing’ scheme seems headed for certain failure. The Naxals took up arms only after a lot of provocation, and if any government wants to solve this growing menace, it needs to come up with a plan that goes to the root of this problem instead of attempting just to buy them out.