Cost of life - 3.50 rupee

Yesterday I was passing by a street, I saw a shop selling cigarette & tobacco there. A policeman was also standing besides the shop. Suddenly a boy aged about 10, appeared. Within seconds, he asked for a cigarette, lit it and ran away. I was amazed to see that, the policeman was laughing and saying to the shopkeeper 

"आज कल के बच्चे होशियार हो गए हैं|"

( Kids of younger generation are getting smart).

"Are they smart enough!!"

They do not know what is good or bad for them, and they are doing what is even worse for the big ones. Many small children see their elder ones doing the same, and they find it very interesting. Smoking or chewing tobacco is status symbol among them in now a days. They start using these products in curiosity which ends into addiction. After getting addicted, they do not even care about ethics, they can just cross any limit to satisfy their addiction.

Another question is that what government does? Government says that we have nothing to do with that, we have written warning on these kind of products to stop people from taking it. But what about adolescents? Our ministers also say that government should not manufacture any thing. Government should only create platform where other private players can develop goods and regulate them to avoid any misconduct. "That's It". Is that so simple, government has sold many companies, that was incurring losses and creating burden on Government Exchequer. But government has so far not sold his stake in ITC, biggest manufacturer of cigarette in India. On one hand, Government is manufacturing from cigarette, and the other side, they are saying we have regulation to put warning, and we are not encouraging smoking by any means. They have banned all smoking advertisement to telecast on television, and earning profit.

Government per year shows that how much we are spending on cancer awareness program and to tackle menace of tobacco & cigarette. The fact is true they are spending very much on these awareness programs than what they are earning from ITC. A government is supposed to do whatever is good for citizens, but if they are manufacturing cigarettes some say, if it is bad then why government is making and selling them. If they stop selling cigarette first, then may be some people believe on that.

What do you think, is government correct to risk our lives for making money??