World No Tobacco Day – May 31

Everyone knows what the end effect of tobacco consumption is. Tobacco is one of the proven carcinogenic material, consumed by millions of people in various forms such as cigarettes, beedies, gutka, etc. It is a dangerous addiction. Street kids as young as four are smoking tobacco in some form or other! We only hope the tobacco industry realizes what it is doing to millions of people.

The World No Tobacco Day is to spread “Shun-Tobacco” message all around the world. The cancer-affected people say “I wish I hadn’t smoked my first cigarette”. They are also now pressing for introduction of pictorial health warnings on all tobacco packs. In India, pictorial warning of –a skull and bones sign with a message “tobacco and smoking kills” - will be introduced on cigarette and bidi packets from May 31, 2009 onwards. Better late than never.

Everyone of us should support and demand a smoke-free environment. If tobacco is so much harmful why grow it at all? Ban tobacco cultivation.

Hookah bars-ban them

In India, smoking is banned in public places, including in restaurants, bars and pubs. Public opinion is definitely for the ban. The cigarette smoke contains particulates and hundreds of organic chemicals which are known to cause cancer. The common types of cancers associated with the cigarette smoke are lung cancer and throat cancer. The smoke is harmful even if it is inhaled in a passive way – like non-smokers sitting in a room inhaling the cigarette (tobacco) smoke exhaled by the smokers.

In-spite of the ban, a report in the news paper reveals that only 64% of the restaurants, bars and pubs in Mumbai are complying with the ban and the rest are not able to. The particulate (2.5 micron size) concentration in the air varied from 55 (in bars/restaurants) to 707 (in Hookah bars) microgram per cubic meter of air. The Deonar Dumping ground area records the particulate concentration of 169 microgram per cubic meter of air.

Why the Mumbai Municipal Authorities are not able to crack down on the non-complying hoteliers and enforce the ban, and save the non-smoking customers from inhaling the air contaminated with these deadly pollutants?

Radioactive Cargo in aircrafts

Millions of radioactive packages are transported regularly by air between different destinations around the world. I believe, India also imports and exports these radioactive sources for different applications, mainly for the diagnosis and treatment of patients in hospitals.

There are very stringent international regulations applicable for transportation of radioactive materials. The rules and regulations apply with respect to type of the radioactive source, nature of the package and the total radioactive material permitted inside the package. The purpose of this is to make sure that even in case of any accident no radioactivity comes out of the package and harm anybody.

Under such situations, there is no reason for any alarm and no need for the media to give undue importance for the presence of radioactive cargo in the aircrafts. Let us not make patients suffer because of our ignorance.

Organised “frauds” in mutual funds’ management?

Who controls and regulates management of thousands of Crore rupees in Indian financial sector. All along, people suspected some sort of a “Jole” in the mutual funds. For one, the final decision to buy types of equities may be a “one-man show” and purchases and sales may be person-biased. This paves way for a lot of loop holes and opportunities to favour selected companies, which may not be in the interest of gullible Indian investors. Often, there is pressure from politicians and other influential company CEOs to buy or sell equities of particular company at a particular time. For example, the Indian mutual fund managers completely missed April rally. Instead, they pumped in Rs.26,000 Cr into debt, their highest ever investment in a month.

Finally, the investor is the loser. More than 40% of the mutual fund NAVs languish below Rs.10/- and may remain so for a year more. The advertisements are fooling the public and for a heft commission, the agents/sales executives somehow convince the people to buy these funds. Some economist’s suspect organized frauds in the management of mutual funds.

Why the investors are taken for ride, again and again? No regulations? Why PSU banks should support these funds? Any answers?