With such an alarming magnitude of tobacco related mortality, Delhi Government is coming up with a stringent law to ban tobacco use in public places within two weeks.

"The earlier ban has not delivered required results and there is a need to review it and come out with more effective legislation to curb this menace," Delhi Health Minister A K Walia stated.

Asked why the ban failed to get the required response, Walia said, "There are various reasons for its failure such as shortage of manpower, lack of awareness among the masses and absence of stringent and effective punishment for violation of the ban."

However, medical experts blame government for not implementing the tobacco policy effectively and allege that thegovernment always comes under the pressure of "tobacco lobby".

"I welcome the ban but i really doubt the intention of the government when they talk about the ban of tobacco as it is difficult to enforce the same. What they should instead do is to regulate the sale," Indian Medical Association (IMA) general secretary Prem Aggarwal said.

"If government is serious about the problem, they should strictly enforce the drug and cosmetic act, under which the sale of nicotine, a major component of tobacco, will be restricted automatically," Aggarwal said.

Tobacco smoking, a menace haunting mankind since time immemorial, killed over 3.8 lakh people in the country last year, according to an IMA journal.Walia, who is also concerned over the gravity of the problem, emphasised that there should be a nationwide ban on tobacco smoking in public places."Even if we will have a strict ban on public smoking in the national capital, there is every possibility that the people from the neighbouring states will come here andsmoke as they would not be aware of the relevance of the ban," the Health Minister said.

According to the journal, the reasons which influence the smoking habits include flashy advertisements of the tobacco products. "After a national study in the country, it is found that sports sponsorship by cigarette companies influences the adolescent children's mind and helps initiate smoking," the journal said.

Tobacco companies in the country, after facing scathing attack for their ad campaigns encouraging young people to pick up smoking, are now launching campaigns to check smoking among minors.

Tobacco giants are in the process of putting up designed and printed point-of-sales material outside the retail shops saying "tobacco products are not for minors" in English as well as in the regional languages, reports said.

Emphasising the need for government to play a very vital role in curbing the problem of tobacco use, IMA general secretary said at the government level, actions should be more transparent,forceful and reflective of an honest political will to root out the problem.

Whatever the reasons and whosoever responsible, the fact of the day is if the current smoking trends continue, the medical experts predict tobacco to be leading cause of disease burden in the world and the annual casualties from this devil will cross about 10 million in next thirty years.