COTPA 2003 is a comprehensive law on tobacco use enacted to prohibit the consumption of cigarettes and tobacco products and regulate its trade and advertising to improve the public health. As per data between 2019-20 & 2021-22, the four states of Karnataka, Kerala, Gujarat, and Punjab accounted for 75% of the persons fined under sections 4 & 6 of COTPA 2003. The Government, in an answer to a question on tobacco sale and consumption, provided statistics about the number of people fined under Section 6 of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 (COTPA, 2003). This data along with the data from the Crime in India report of the NCRB is vital in understanding the implementation of the COTPA 2003. In this story, we look at India’s response to the tobacco epidemic and some data points relating to its consumption and sale. You can read Factly reports on COTPA 2003 here, here and here. Tobacco is one of the leading causes of non-communicable diseases Tobacco usage, in any form, is one of the leading causes of non-communicable diseases in India, and the world. Tobacco deaths rarely make it to headlines. In fact, tobacco kills about half its own users. Tobacco contains an addictive drug called Nicotine and it is easily absorbed by the blood through lungs. Whether you smoke it, sniff it, or eat it, the result is the same. As per the World Health Organization, the tobacco epidemic is one of the leading public health hazards, killing more than 8 million people a year. Tobacco is not only a health issue- but it is also both an environmental and economic issue. Most cigarette butts end up in landfills and contain materials that are hard to biodegrade. Tobacco use is expanding at a greater rate in low-income countries, where millions of individuals succumb to lethal addiction every year. Contrary to the industry’s assertions on job creation and income generation, the primary contributions of the tobacco industry to any nation seem to be disease, death, and economic losses. For the poor and impoverished, purchasing tobacco means abandoning funds for essentials like food, shelter, education, and healthcare. The net economic effect of tobacco usage is to exaggerate poverty. Eighty percent increase in cases under COTPA in last five years The Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 (COTPA, 2003) is a comprehensive law on tobacco use enacted to prohibit the consumption of cigarettes and tobacco products and regulate its trade and advertising to improve the public health. Some of its key provisions relate to the restrictions on the sale and consumption of tobacco products, restrictions on advertising and marketing, regulations on the packaging of tobacco products and powers of the Government in upholding these provisions. The National Crime Records Bureau’s (NCRB) ‘Crime in India’ report provides a state-wise number of cases registered under the COTPA 2003. Prior to 2017, this data was included in ‘other SLL crimes’, while from 2017, it is listed under ‘Environmental Offences’ in the ‘Crime in India’ report. The data from 2017 to 2021 indicates a huge increase in the number of cases filed under the COTPA 2003. In 2017, the number of cases registered was 29579, which rose to 49639 in 2020, and to 53946 in 2021, amounting to an 80% increase over the last five years. To be precise, there was a steep 120% jump in cases from 2019 to 2020 itself. This could be majorly due to the prohibition on spitting in public places to restrict the spread of COVID-19. Penalty provisions of the COTPA 2003 The COTPA 2003 provides for punishments for different violations of the act as mentioned below. From the above, it is clear that all these key sections have a provision for levying penalties for violations. We shall look at the trends in the penalties levied under these sections. Under Section 4 of the COTPA 2003 Section 4 prohibits smoking in public places. A public place is defined under Section 3(l) of the same statute as below. The data for the last three years on the number of persons fined (challaned) under Section 4 of COTPA 2003, as received from States/UTs indicate that there is a 16% decline in the number of people fined in 2021-22 as compared to 2019-20. The number was 5,26,029 in 2019-20, which declined by 29% to 3,71,313 in 2020-21. Thereafter, the year 2021-22 saw an increase of 18% from 2020-21, to reach 4,39,124.