Significant drop in tobacco use among women and children: Government

Prataprao Jadhav, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, on Tuesday informed members of the Upper House about a notable decline in tobacco use among women and school-going children aged 13 to 15 years.

Among women aged 15 and above, tobacco use declined from 20.3 percent to 14.3 percent, as recorded in two nationwide adult surveys conducted between 2009 and 2016. A sharper decrease was observed among adolescents in the 13–15 age group.

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According to the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS), the proportion of children who used tobacco dropped from 14.6 percent in 2009 to 8.5 percent after a decade, the minister said in response to a question raised in the Rajya Sabha by Bhubaneswar Kalita, a Member of Parliament from the BJP.

The minister attributed the significant reduction in tobacco consumption to various legislative measures implemented since the early 2000s. A comprehensive law—the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 (COTPA 2003)—was enacted to regulate and discourage the use of all tobacco products.

Rules framed under COTPA 2003 prohibit smoking in public places, ban the sale of tobacco products to and by minors, restrict sales within 100 yards of educational institutions, and prohibit both direct and indirect advertising of tobacco products. The law also mandates prominent health warnings on all tobacco product packaging.

Jadhav also highlighted government-led awareness campaigns launched in 2007 to educate the public about the harmful effects of tobacco consumption. As part of these efforts, the Ministry runs a 60-day annual Tobacco-Free Youth Campaign aimed at informing young people about the dangers of tobacco and empowering them to resist or quit its use.

To address the recent rise in electronic cigarette use among youth, the government enacted the Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes (Production, Manufacture, Import, Export, Transport, Sale, Distribution, Storage and Advertisement) Act, 2019, which imposes a complete ban on e-cigarettes, including heat-not-burn products.