October 2nd, 2008; A. Ramadoss, the Indian Health Minister's pet project, the smoking ban in public places comes into effect. Smoking ban? Right. There is a ban against making bombs and blowing up public places too, I am guessing. Do people follow those? Apparently, not. Yet, the Government of India seems more busy to get nuke to the country and ban smokers from smoking in public places. Fat lot of good that is doing to the smokers, even the passive ones.
The passive smokers who really get affected aren't the ones who inhale the smoke once in a blue moon in a restaurant. They are the ones who share a life, a room, lots of time in company of the smoker. Yeah, ban them too. It would be much better if you make social outcasts of smokers and teach them a lesson, anyone speaking to a smoker gets a spot fine of 500 bucks! That ought to do the trick!
Matchsticks have been doing nice tricks too in this country, not just to light cigarettes but also to fuse little homemade bombs. It is kind of silly to think that Ramadoss is going for the heads of smokers and the harmful effects on our children, rather than trying to ban the internet. Isn't it strange how suddenly, there is a huge upheaval of terrorist activity? Too many bombs? Yeah, why shouldn't there be, after all, you type 'bomb' in Google and you get around a million pages to tell you how to make a bomb right here at home.
I am not really against the government on their anti-smoking stand. It is a good thing, no doubt. But it is high time that someone really prioritizes action in these governments. Corruption, poverty and tripled with illiteracy are the country's problems. And of course, did I mention the politicians who make the laws? Them too. Look at Mamata Banerjee for instance. This woman is a member of Parliament, yet she decides to take the future of West Bengal in her own hands and bids 'tata' to Tata (excuse the pun). Very much in contempt of the Calcutta High Court's order, mind you. But instead of her behind bars, we have the State of West Bengal in a state and Mamata claiming that the CM Bhattacharjee and Mr. Tata had a gameplan and they wanted to actually take away the Singur land so that Tata could set up the Nano factory somewhere else. Yes, Ms. Banerjee, we believe you, especially since the gameplan involved the total annhilation of the people who had the Nano factory as their sole income source, a waste of crores of rupees making the factory and to top it all, future prospective industrialists running away from the State! What a masterful gameplan, both Tata and Bhattacharjee would gain so much!
Things need to change, and I am not talking about the smoking ban. We need a change from the core, we need a stable government, we need to eradicate silly regional politics and concentrate on a bi-party system. Else corruption, and with it poverty and illiteracy will never cease to haunt India. Oh yeah, and did I mention that the judiciary need some teeth to tackle non-compliance of their orders? This country needs a better breed of politicians, but how will we give it to her? Not without proper constitutional reform. No wonder we are getting bombed! People aren't happy, they want change. It is not Hindu vs. Muslim anymore, it has become India vs. Government of India. With this, India's smoking problems seem to be the least of her worries, eh Mr. Ramadoss? Cigarette, anyone?
