Most importantly like earlier years, the budget also

failed to increase the excise taxes on tendu rolled hand-made bidis which almost 98 per cent of the bidis smokers consume instead increasing it on paper-rolled bidis which has a negligible market share - once again keeping bidis a very affordable and practically unregulated poison for its 67.5 million bidi users, according to health groups.

Rijo John, Assistant Professor, IIT Jodhpur said, "The tobacco industry knows how to exploit its consumers and this is why it increases prices much more than the tax increases that the government proposes every year. It is unfortunate that the government doesn't take a cue from this and increase taxes on tobacco products substantially." As against a normally expected 10-15 per cent increase in taxes on tobacco products, a mere increase of 6 per cent announced in the budget is a boon to the tobacco industry.

Unless corrective measures are taken in the impending GST by bringing all tobacco products under the highest demerit rate of 28 per cent plus the highest possible cess, it would be a severe blow to the public health in India," said Pankaj Chaturvedi, Oncologist, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, who was recently in Kota sees no logic in giving tax subsidy to a product that carries a product warning that it kills.

"In fact, it is the cheapest and unregulated poison currently available in the market," Chaturvedi said adding with current tax pattern, consumer and the nation are losers, whereas handful of business families (bidi and chewing tobacco industry owners) are making vulgar profits by selling this weapon of mass destruction.

"Tobacco consumption has reached a dangerous level and requires immediate attention by law makers," he said.

According to Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS), India has the second largest number of tobacco users (275 million or 35 per cent of all adults in India) in the world - of these at least 10 lakh die every year from tobacco related diseases.

The total direct and indirect cost of diseases attributable to tobacco use was a staggering Rs 1.04 lakh crore (USD 17 billion) in 2011 or 1.16 per cent of India's GDP.

Approximately, 48 per cent of men and 20 per cent of women consume tobacco (35 per cent of the adult population overall) - of these at least 10 lakh are dying each year from tobacco related diseases.

Bidis comprise 48 per cent of the tobacco market, chewing tobacco 38 per cent and cigarettes 14 per cent so it is evident that bidis account for a significant portion of those deaths.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)