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EDITORIAL: TIMES VIEW: The ban is justified  

Cigarettes are sublime, they say. Well, not quite, says the health ministry - and rightly so. Its public spiritedness has finally taken the form of a nationwide clampdown on smoking in workplaces, restaurants, bars, bus stops and other designated public places. Questions are being raised about the viability of the ban. And most of the cynicism is emanating from those who think of smoking as some sort of individual entitlement. Their argument is hollow.

Going by continuing research on exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, smoking kills smokers and non-smokers. . . .

A few more stats for those already writing obituaries of the ban in place: according to a recent survey, over 90 per cent of Indians back the ban. As for implementability, health minister Anbumani Ramadoss has astutely said it depends more on compliance than enforcement. In any mature democracy, that's how it should be. The irrefutable fact is, from Kenya to Kazakhstan, from Slovenia to Singapore, from US to Uganda, more and more people want smoke-free environments - for themselves, for their families, for future generations. Hiccups in execution cannot stop this tide. So the sooner the smoke lobby stubs it out, the better.

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