The Hindu : Front Page : Will cut down on smoking, says Bhutan King

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Saturday, Jan 29, 2005

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Front Page

Will cut down on smoking, says Bhutan King

By Amit Baruah

NEW DELHI, JAN. 28. The King will still smoke, but less. It's a promise that the King of Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, made to a small group of Indian correspondents during an hour-long meeting this evening.

In normal circumstances, discussing a monarch's personal habits would be strictly off limits. But in the case of King Jigme Singye Wangchuck the question is relevant because his nation of 600,000 persons imposed a nationwide ban on smoking on December 17.

This radical decision made Bhutan the first country in the world to outlaw the use of tobacco.

Explaining the background to the ban on smoking, the King, who will be 50 on November 11 this year, said the decision had first been taken at the district level and then given the green signal by the National Assembly.

The King clarified that you could puff in the privacy of your home, but would have to pay 100 per cent sales tax and 100 per cent import duty on the import of cigarettes. Smoking in public places is a `no-no' as is the sale of tobacco within the country.

When it was pointed out that he would now have to pay more for his cigarettes, the King responded that he planned to cut down on the number of cigarettes.

But open as the "Druk Gyalpo", or the "dragon king" as he is known, was about his smoking, Bhutan's monarch did not part with a key piece of information — the number of cigarettes he smoked in a day.

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