Over Rs 19,000 crores have been collected as Central tax on tobacco till January in financial year 2016-17, the government said today. “As reported by the Finance Ministry, the total amount of Central tax collected on tobacco during 2016-17 (till January) is Rs 19,293 crores. The figure for 2014-15 and 2015-16 stand at Rs 22,174 crores and Rs 19,977 crores, respectively,”
Union Health Minister J P Nadda said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha. He said there was no earmarking of funds to the health care sector out of the funds collected from taxes on tobacco.
Replying to another question, Minister of State for Health, Anupriya Patel said that as per the report on tobacco control in India, published in 2004, India is the second largest consumer of unmanufactured tobacco in the world and about 8-9 lakh Indians die of tobacco-related diseases every year.
“As per the report of ‘Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) India 2009-10, more than one third (35 per cent) of adults in the age group of 15 years and above use tobacco in some form or the other, whereas 33 per cent adult males and 18 per cent adult females in the country consume smokeless tobacco products,” she said.
Anupriya said as per the Global Youth Tobacco Survey 2006, 14.1 per cent of students aged 13-15 years in India use any tobacco product, 4.2 per cent smoke cigarettes and 11.9 per cent use other tobacco products.
Source: Financial Express
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