Death Marketing-1

Awarding Bidi Factory and Jarda Manufacturer

Again, National Board of Revenue (NBR) has awarded smokeless tobacco (jarda) manufacturer Kaus Miah as the highest taxpayer. Among the recipients of this year's awards is Maya Bidi Factory for paying the highest amount in Value Added Tax (VAT) category. Paying taxes and VAT is merely complying with a legal obligation. However, despite causing severe damage to public health with deadly products, tobacco companies get awarded on a regular basis for mere compliance with the law. Showering tobacco companies with awards and recognitions is in grave conflict with the Honorable Prime Minister's commitment to building a tobacco-free country by 2040. According to Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) 2017, 5.3 million people in this country use bidi and 202 million use smokeless tobacco (SLT) products. The prevalence of bidi and SLT use is the highest among women and the poor. Due to lack of access to resources, these people are the least equipped to tackle the detrimental effects of tobacco use. Therefore, in order to discourage tobacco use, awarding tobacco companies should be stopped.