UK PM Rishi Sunak faces resistance over his smoking ban plans
London, Apr 16: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak faces very vocal resistance against his plans to effectively ban smoking for anyone aged 15 and younger as a new bill comes up for a vote in the House of Commons on Tuesday.
The British Indian leader proposed the Tobacco and Vapes Bill last year and declared his vision for creating a “smokefree generation” by making it an offence to sell tobacco products to anyone born after January 1, 2009, which covers children aged 15.
Once it clears its parliamentary journey, the new legislation will introduce some of the world's strictest anti-smoking laws in the country.
“I propose that in future we raise the smoking age by one year, every year. That means a 14-year-old today will never legally be sold a cigarette and that they — and their generation — can grow up smoke-free. We know this works,” Sunak had declared at the Conservative Party conference in October last year.
As there is Opposition backing for the bill in Parliament and governing Conservative MPs have a free vote on the bill, any Tory votes against the bill will not be seen as a full-blown rebellion against the Prime Minister.
But two of Sunak’s immediate predecessors, Liz Truss and Boris Johnson, have been leading a very vocal group of Tories who plan to vote against the bill as “un-Conservative” and taking away choice from the public.
“The truth is that there is no safe level of tobacco consumption. It is uniquely harmful, and that is why we are taking this important action today to protect the next generation,” said UK Health Secretary Victoria Atkins.
“This Bill will save thousands of lives, ease the strain on our NHS [National Health Service], and improve the UK’s productivity,” she said.
Under the new law, smoking itself would not be criminalised, and anyone who can legally buy tobacco will not be prevented from doing so.
The ban aims to stop people from smoking even before they start as the government pointed to its highly addictive nature, with four in five smokers picking it up before the age of 20, remaining addicted for life.
If passed, the bill will progress to the next stage, bringing the UK closer to creating the first smoke-free generation, the government says.
Under the plans, trading standards officers would get new powers to issue on-the-spot 100-pound fines to shops selling tobacco or vapes to children, with all the money raised going towards further enforcement.
"This historic legislation will consign smoking to the 'ash heap of history'," said Deborah Arnott, head of the charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH).
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill would also give the government new powers to tackle youth vaping by restricting flavours and regulating the way that vapes are sold and packaged to make them less appealing to children.
The UK's Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said while vaping can play a useful role in helping adult smokers to quit, non-smokers and children should never vape.
The long-term health impacts of vaping are unknown, and the nicotine contained within them can be highly addictive, it warned.
According to official figures, responsible for around 80,000 deaths annually, smoking is the UK’s single biggest preventable killer and costs the NHS and economy an estimated GBP 17 billion a year — more than the GBP 10 billion annual revenue from tobacco taxation.
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Karnataka SSLC question papers to have new format for academic year 2024-25
Bengaluru: In a significant shift, the Karnataka School Examination and Assessment Board (KSEAB) has reportedly announced changes to the format of the SSLC annual exam question papers for the academic year 2024-25 and released a blueprint outlining these revisions. This overhaul, the first major revision since 2019-20, is aimed at enhancing the quality of learning and reducing students' dependence on rote memorisation.
Marks will now be allocated based on themes rather than individual chapters, with a focus on key concepts, according to a report published by The Hindu on Monday. For instance, language papers can be organised around themes such as prose, poetry, and grammar, while core subjects will feature units that combine multiple lessons.
A significant component of this change is the reintroduction of a weightage system based on learning objectives, which includes: remembering (20%), understanding (40%), and application (20%). In addition, 15% of the marks will be allocated to skills such as diagram drawing, while 5% will focus on higher-order thinking questions that encourage critical analysis and problem-solving.
“This method ensures equal importance is given to all chapters during teaching and learning. Teachers and students can move away from the practice of preparing for exams solely based on chapter-wise marks allocation. While specific marks are not assigned to individual chapters, clear weightage is given to relevant themes. This approach guarantees comprehensive practice for each chapter and allows for diverse question types in the exams,” the blueprint stated, as cited by the news outlet.
Key changes also include a reduction in the number of one-mark and two-mark questions, in favour of more three-mark and four-mark questions and the introduction of one five-mark question.
The blueprint mentioned that one-mark questions, which often lead to guesswork, would be replaced with more descriptive questions that challenge students to think critically, write extensively, and refine their expression skills.
The updated question paper format will include 45 questions for the first language, and 38 questions for other subject papers. Some of the three-mark, four-mark, and five-mark questions may contain sub-questions. Additionally, internal choice questions, worth a total of 20 marks, will continue to be part of the exam and will be based on the same themes and chapters as the primary questions.
Despite these revisions, KSEAB has clarified that the overall difficulty level of the exams will remain unchanged. The distribution of marks will continue to follow the same pattern as in previous years, with 30% of questions considered easy or very easy, 50% of average difficulty, and 20% deemed difficult.
