The Hindu : New Delhi News : NGOs see smoking a reality on Bigg Boss show

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Sunday, Sep 21, 2008
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NGOs see smoking a reality on Bigg Boss show

Bindu Shajan Perappadan

NEW DELHI: Worried over participants being shown smoking on Bigg Boss (Season-2), a popular reality show on Colors TV channel, non-government organisations working for prevention of smoking are planning to send a notice to the show’s producers.

“The programme shows very poorly morphed shots of participants smoking. We condemn this behaviour and are in talks with various other non-government organisations to join hands in an effort to try and ensure that shots of this nature are not shown on television. We are also worried because the show is watched by a large young population and this may impact them adversely. While the country is working towards containing tobacco abuse, we cannot have a popular show telecasting this on air,” said Monika Arora, Director of HRIDAY-SHAN, a non-government organisation working in the area of prevention of tobacco abuse.

“Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Anbumani Ramadoss has been running a crusade of sorts trying to contain the abuse of tobacco in the country. He had earlier also appealed to film actors and ministers to join ‘the war against tobacco. The Minister has said that if movie stars do not smoke on screen it will encourage the youth to stay away from picking up this cancerous habit,” she added.

Delhi Medical Council member Anil Bansal said: “We condemn smoking and we would certainly not like to see it on television. Bigg Boss is a popular show which is also watched by several youngsters who are at a very impressionable age. We would not like them to pick up habits injurious to health.”

Dr. Bansal said doctors had been advising and encouraging people to quit smoking “and any help from the Ministry and general public is welcome. Reduction and prevention of tobacco abuse in the country is not an overnight business deal, it needs sustained effort to curb”.

Stating that there were studies indicating that watching people smoke on screen did contribute to promoting tobacco abuse, Heart Care Foundation of India president Dr. K.K. Aggarwal said: “Showing people smoking on television promotes tobacco abuse and we do not encourage this kind of behaviour.”

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