.... the brain is not a vessel to be filled,
It is something to be IGNITED

BURNING BRAIN NEWSLETTER - April 2006

First case against tobacco company

After a struggle of about two year since the promulgation of the “Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003” Burning Brain Society (BBS) finally succeeded in getting a case registered against Godfrey Phillips India Ltd. for violations of Section 5 and Rule 4 of the tobacco control legislation.

In the wake of a new promotional campaign by the tobacco company “Godfrey Phillips India Ltd” wherein they had recruited young boys and girls to promote and publicise a brand of cigarette, Burning Brain Society has been complaining to the Chandigarh Administration and the Police since April 17, 2006. On 25th April when two of the employee of the tobacco company were seen promoting a cigarette brand and distributing promotional material of cigarettes, the undersigned immediately alerted the Director Health Services and the Police about the gallant illegal activity and made another formal complaint. The pressure which was maintained (On the Police and DHS) since a week preceding this complaint helped.

The police reached the spot and seized all the promotional material and the cigarettes used for sampling. First time the provisions of Section 12 & 13 of COTPA were put to use. The two employees of the companies were also arrested and later let off. The complaint made by BBS mentions the name of the Chairman of the tobacco company Mr. R.A. Shah, President Mr. K. K. Modi, Senior Vice President, Nita Kapoor among other officials and who are alleged to be the mastermind behind this promotional scheme.

The Burning Brain Society team expressed its joy over the registration of the case. The police case has also contributed in the elevated enthusiasm level of BBS members in their continuous campaign against illegal promotion of tobacco products across the region. It's a small battle won in the long war against tobacco. Thanks for your support.

Yours,
Hemant Goswami
Chairperson,
Burning Brain Society

Watch, what GPI was doing

Godfrey Phillips India Ltd. had engaged a team of youngsters by to promote the cigarette brands marketed by them. They had told the youngsters that it's a research activity and not an advertising or marketing campaign.

Watch the still pictures of the activity at;
http://gallery.globalink.org/v/members/goswamih/gpi_india

Watch some video clips of the illegal activity at; http://gallery.globalink.org/v/members/goswamih/gpimovie/

VIOLATIONS: What all provisions constitute violation under Section 5 of the Tobacco control Act.

PENAL PROVISIONS: What is the Punishment for violation of the provisions of the tobacco control Act?

Section 22 of the Act reads that; Whoever contravenes the provision of section 5 shall, on conviction, be punishable— (a) in the case of first conviction, with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years or with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees or with both, and (b) in the case of second or subsequent conviction with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years and with fine which may extend to five thousand rupees.

Become a vigilant citizen; Participate in the Citizens Report project

It appears that the unaccounted actions and arbitrary decisions of many government officials are going to face some real challenge ahead and may become a thing of the past. Burning Brain Society (BBS) and Society for Prevention of Crime & Corruption along with the support of many other national and international organisations has decided to use the Right to Information Act to bring out a citizen’s report on the functioning of various departments of the government.

Announcing this new project today, Mr. Hemant Goswami, chairperson of BBS revealed that beginning May 2006, every month at least one government department shall be thoroughly scanned, scrutinized and evaluated for its public functioning. An annual report on the overall health and functioning of the Administration shall also be brought out at the end of every year. The citizen’s report shall be freely available on the internet, published in associate newspapers and in book form. Mr. Hemant further revealed that the entire effort of preparation of the citizen’s report shall be totally done by public spirited volunteers.

Lamenting the recent arbitrary decisions by the administrations like the one on public transport, mushrooming of the liquor vends, proposal of a film city and amusement park, etc. Goswami said, “The bureaucracy is taking the general public for a ride and has become totally unaccountable and insensitive to the public sentiment which needs to be changed.”

The departments which are initially planned to come under the BBS citizen’s report are Law & Justice, Police, Education, Tourism, Sports, Health, IT, Municipal Corporation, Labour, Housing, Civic facilities and such other department providing citizens services.
BBS has also invited organisations and concerned citizens to volunteer for the project. Those interested can call 0172-5165555 or e-mail at info(at)burningbrain.org.

Participate in WNTD at Delhi

A special conference is being organised on World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) on 31st May 2006 at Delhi by VOICE with the support of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India and the World Health Organisation.

On this occasion a strategy for the National/State level  shall be developed so as to implement the Tobacco Act effectively and efficiently. This initiative has the potential of saving millions of lives lost to tobacco addiction. This conference will also educate the social activists and organisations about the law and its various provisions so that they can initiate action against the violations of the tobacco control legislation at the State level and claim compensation on behalf of the victims who are today paralyzed due to non implementation of law.

You are invited to participate; Please visit http://register.tobaccofreeindia.org/ to register for participation. There are a limited number of invitations, so hurry up.

Tobacco addiction is a global epidemic that is increasingly ravaging countries and regions that can least afford its toll of disability, disease, lost productivity and death. The tobacco industry continues to put profits before life; its own expansion before the health of future generations; its own economic gain ahead of the sustainable development of struggling countries.

Nowadays, tobacco companies continue to expand with new variants of the "light", "mild" and "low tar" cigarette campaigns so popular in the 20th century. Nowadays, they reassure health concerned smokers by offering with their new products the illusion of safety. They continue to take their old and new customers to more insidious levels of deception by promoting and selling new products disguised under healthier names, fruity flavours or more attractive-looking packaging.

Objective:

The purpose of World No Tobacco Day 2006 is to encourage countries and governments to work towards strict regulation of tobacco products. We will do this by raising awareness about the existence of the wide variety of deadly tobacco products. Regulation should also help people get accurate information, remove the disguise and unveil the truth behind tobacco products – traditional, new, and future.

JOIN PEOPLE AND ORGANIZATIONS AROUND THE WORLD ON THE CELEBRATION OF WORLD NO TOBACCO DAY 2006. START RAISING AWARENESS NOW ABOUT TOBACCO: DEADLY IN ANY FORM OR DISGUISE

Many wondered why even after India’s ratification of the “Framework Convention on Tobacco Control” and despite a two years old tobacco control act nothing much has changed concerning enforcement of the tobacco laws and controlling the tobacco menace. People often contemplate as to how tobacco companies are able to evade legal action by the government while still doing surrogate advertisement in the name of selling garments, offering bravery awards or fashion shows, etc.

In a communication sent to the Health Ministry, the NGO Burning Brain Society (BBS) brought some gory facts to public limelight. BBS revealed that all the major political parties who are opposing tobacco bans in movies and soft peddling the enforcement of the tobacco laws have been provided open political donations by major multinational tobacco companies. The donation runs in crores for the national parties. In 2005, India’s biggest tobacco company ITC Limited had provided 1.44 crore Rupees to the Congress and 1.37 crore to BJP (The two biggest Indian political parties). Even Punjab’s political party, “Shiromani Akali Dal,” which claims to work on Sikhism philosophy (prohibiting tobacco use) accepted a sum of Rs. 8 lakh from the tobacco company. ITC’s audited financial report shows that in 2005 it donated a sum ranging from 3 lakhs to 144 lakhs to 18 major political parties having representation in the parliament. It is the same story for the current financial year too though the official figures for 2006 are yet to be published.

Mr. Hemant Goswami, chairman of BBS said, “Every year nearly a million people die because of tobacco use and about two million youngsters become new tobacco addicts in India. In the light of these facts, it is quite shameful that even the most trusted political parties have decided to be a part of the tobacco genocide and sided with tobacco companies solely for the money they provide them.” While on one hand many social activists are spending and risking their lives to contain the tobacco generated death toll but unfortunately on the other hand most of the politicians are finding ways to mitigate the good work done on tobacco control even though their actual duty is to save millions from dying, Hemant rued.

It may be mentioned that in the 2005 (WHO sponsored) study done on the use of tobacco in movies it was found that over 67 percent Hindi movies having product shots of tobacco brands were of those brands which were marketed by ITC. Many politicians had openly opposed the move of restraining tobacco product shots in Hindi movies.

Burning Brain has requested the Health Ministry to desist from involving such functionary in any activity/committee on tobacco control who belongs to political parties accepting donations from tobacco companies.

Some of the parties which have accepted money in 2005 from ITC Limited are All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam - Rs. 0.06 Crore; All India Trinamool Congres - Rs. 0.04 Crore; Bahujan Samaj Party - Rs.0.19 Crore ; Bharatiya Janata Party - Rs.1.37 Crores; Biju Janata Dal - Rs.0.11Crore ; Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam - Rs.0.16 Crore; Indian National Congress - Rs.1.44 Crores; Indian National Lok Dal - Rs.0.03 Crore; Jammu & Kashmir National Conference -Rs. 0.03 Crore ; Nationalist Congress Party - Rs.0.09 Crore; Samajwadi Party -Rs. 0.36 Crore; Shiv Sena - Rs.0.12 Crore; Telegu Desam Party - Rs. 0.15 Crore; Janata Dal (United) - Rs.0.08 Crore; Jharkhand Mukti Morcha - Rs.0.05Crore; Rashtriya Janata Dal - Rs. 0.21 Crore; Shiromani Akali Dal - Rs. 0.08 Crore; Telangana Rashtra Samithi -Rs. 0.05 Crore.

Documents you can refer to:

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Research Report on "Tobacco In Movies"

The report on "Tobacco In Movies" have been released now. We are thankful to all of you who provided valuable inputs and helped on the project. You can download your copy from http://www.burningbrain.org/tobaccoinmovies or read the report online.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Watch how Hindi Movies are pushing chemical addiction

You can download a 7 minutes film (Projection quality) from http://gallery.globalink.org/d/12358-1/tobacco_in_movies_BBSindia-7mins.wmv and see the result of the survey of Indian movies in 2004 and 2005.

You can also watch a 32 minute movie on "Tobacco in Hindi Movies." You can watch the movie online (on the internet without downloading it) at http://www.burningbrain.org/tobaccoinmovies/playmovie.htm
 

Join BBS

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Support Burning Brain

Friends,

You can support us in a number of ways. You can join the crusade, provide financial resources, contribute in cash or kind, donate resources, volunteer and be a contributing person.

You can send your payments/drafts/cheques and other contributions in favour of Burning Brain Society, payable at Chandigarh and addressed to:

Burning Brain Society
Glass Office 3, Business Arcade, Shivalikview, Sector 17-E, Chandigarh 160 017 INDIA

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