Lok Sabha clears bill to ban e-cigs, Opposition parties target tobacco

NEW DELHI: The Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed a bill that seekstobanelectroniccigarettes, withhealthministerHarshVardhan saying such a measure was necessary to protect the youth from a new intoxication being promoted by companies as new “fashion”. The main contention of the Opposition on the bill saw the Union minister go on a backfoot explaining why the governmentwasjustbanningrelatively lessusede-ciagretteswhenthere weremoreharmfultobaccoproducts in the market.

NEWDELHI: India’s top diplomat in New York created a flutter when a video emerged on Wednesday that showed him suggesting that the country emulate Israel’s example to ensure the return of Kashmiri Pandit refugees to Jammu & Kashmir.

Sandeep Chakravorty, the consul general in New York, was filmed making the remarks at a private event on Saturday that was also attended by filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri, actor Anupam Kher and members of the Kashmiri Pandit community settled in the US. The hour-long video waspostedonFacebookbyAgnihotri.

The external affairs ministry did not comment on the issue.

Chakravorty, who is believed to be a front-runner to become the ministry’s next spokesperson, tweeted that he had “seen some social media comments on my recent remarks”, which he said “are being taken out of context”.

In the video, Chakravorty, who spoke in a mixture of Hindi and English, is shown saying he would express some personal views and then give the “government’s position” on the issue of Jammu & Kashmir.

He described the government’s August 5 decision to revokeJammu&Kashmir’sspecial status and to split the state into two Union territories as a “big international risk” that could have led to “international opprobrium”. He added that India had “successfully stalled” an “international diplomatic struggle” on the Kashmir issue and the Kashmiri Pandit refugees will be able to return with time.