When the ban on smoking in public places came into effect last Thursday I did not know whether to laugh or cry. Was this the government’s latest joke on us or yet another example of wasting taxpayers’ money on a silly goal? In line with changing the names of cities when you could do nothing else for them, in line with reserving seats for deprived castes because the state was too lazy to build the 1,500 universities we need.

I ended up laughing because when I saw the smug expression on the Health Minister’s face as he gave interviews about the ban on nationwide television, I realised that he took himself too seriously for anyone else to need to. Anbumani Ramadoss will be remembered in history books in a small footnote as the man who had a chance to really make a difference and blew it. The Prime Minister will be the one blamed for allowing the most important portfolios in his cabinet to remain in the hands of men who never understood their importance. I speak of health, education and national security. Even if we can sympathise with Dr Manmohan Singh’s compulsions in keeping two aged leaders in Education and Home for reasons of peace in his party, it’s hard to understand why he needed to keep Ramadoss as Health Minister. Is the Congress Party so unsure of its future that it needs the support of a nothing party like the PMK?

Do we need to be inflicted with a Health Minister who is ready to waste our hard-earned money on impractical, unenforceable bans when there are so many important things that need to be done? Half of India’s children are malnourished, more than half of Indian women suffer from aneamia, we have one of the highest rates of infant mortality in the world and most deaths of children under the age of five are from preventable diseases. Can we afford to worry about smoking in public places?

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