The Assembly on Wednesday adopted 14 bills on a host of subjects, including amendment to the Tamil Nadu Value Added Tax (VAT) Act, 2006, which provides for increased taxation on tobacco varieties and mobile phones.Four bills were adopted to amend the VAT to facilitate a number of measures, which include a hike in tax on edible oil, tobacco products, mobile phones, iPods, DVDs and CDs.

Despite warnings in public places and on cigarette boxes, more  people are smoking and transgressing the Tobacco Products Control Act of 1993. The fact of the matter is that what we are witnessing now is that smoking cigarettes in South Africa is like an outbreak of a disease.Most people, young and old, are smoking in public places, which is in contravention of the Tobacco Products Control Amendment Act of 1999 and law enforcement agencies do nothing about the transgressors. My understanding of the application of the law is that if there are transgressors of the anti-smoking laws there must be a penalty.