This Just In: Budget Travel's Blog

You can always trust us—because we never take freebies or accept any travel discounts.
Recent Posts
  • All Recent Posts
People Are Talking…
Affordable Paris
Seine River at sunset
A special series of posts delivering money-saving travel tips.
Popular Authors
Sean O'Neill
Blog Editor
View author page
Beth Collins
Associate Editor
View author page
JD Rinne
Assistant Editor Online
View author page
AddThis Feed Button
Trends we like: India bans smoking in public places
Posted by: Alison Rohrs, Thursday, Oct 2, 2008, 4:24 PM

A camel trader lighting his first smoke at a make-shift tea stall at Pushkar fair, Rajasthan, India
[+] Enlarge photo
A camel trader lighting his first smoke at a make-shift tea stall at Pushkar fair, Rajasthan, India (Courtesy Koshyk/Flickr)
Health-conscious travelers to India may have gotten a break today. The Associated Press reported today that the country has officially banned smoking in public places, including hotels and outdoor cafés. The ban includes not just manufactured cigarettes but also hand-rolled bidi, which contains chopped tobacco.

As of now, no one knows if this law will work. On the one hand, the new fine of $5 is a huge amount of money to many people. Consider that 100 rupees ($2.50) is a day's wages to lower class people—the very ones most likely to be on the street and within view of the police. Middle-class people could care less, though officials note that they have plans to raise the fine to $25.

On the other hand, it's India. The law's not all that enforceable because 1) bribery is generally more common there than in, say, the U.S. (per Transparency International surveys) and 2) people have a lot more pressing issues to worry about there than smoking (despite the 900,000 smoking-related deaths a year calculated by a study published this year in the New England Journal of Medicine).

Leave a Comment


(This is a moderated blog. Your comment will need to be approved by the site owner before it will appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)


We encourage users to analyze, comment on, and even challenge the articles, blogs, reviews, and multimedia features of BudgetTravel.com.

User reviews and comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions.

Get E-Newsletters
Subscribe to the magazine now!