Arawa-Arwaine is being observed Wednesday in the first day of the
Chhath festival, a festival of cultural and religious importance in
Nepal. Arwa-Arwaine is also considered the day to take dip to
purify the body. Begun with rigorous fasting on Kartik shukla
panchami, the devotees go to nearby rivers and ponds and worship
the setting sun. Then, they worship the rising sun with special
homage and conclude the festival. The Chhath is celebrated in
ancient Mithila's capital Janakpurdham with fanfare wishing
longevity of the progeny. It is considered a very tough festival
requiring devotees to sit for strict fasting during two days.
A new law which strictly prohibits smoking in all
indoor public places across Greece comes into effect on Wednesday
September 1. It is the fourth such effort in the decade for Greek
authorities which face strong reactions by a nation of heavy
smokers.
According to the latest European Union statistics, a 42 percent of
adult Greeks smoke, the largest percentage across EU and
approximately 20,000 people die every year due to illnesses related
to smoking, costing the country more than two billion euros (2.55
billion U.S. dollars) each year.
According to Greek Health Ministry data Greeks spend every year
approximately 4.5 billion euros (5.74 billion U.S. dollars) on
tobacco products.
As Greece faces an economic crisis and tries to save costs, by
changing mentality in many issues, the government implements a new
law to reduce smoking. Previous similar bans in 2002, 2003 and 2009
failed due to loopholes and Greeks' tendency to ignore
laws.
"This time words will become action. We change page. We change
habits with the support of the overwhelming majority of Greek
society, smokers included. We take a significant step to improve
public health," said during a press conference on Wednesday Greek
Health Minister Marilisa Xenoyannakopoulou who is determined to
face loopholes.
"Your efforts contribute to our efforts to change attitudes to
improve the quality of every day life in Greece, not only the
economy," said Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, who received
the health minister and representatives of the Greek anti- smoking
committee on Tuesday.
"The road ahead will be difficult, but it is time we change
behavior and accept change in all sectors," added General Secretary
of Public Health Antonis Dimopoulos, a former heavy smoker himself.
Dimopoulos called on Greeks to "quit smoking and win life," which
is the main slogan of the new awareness advertising campaign,
before presenting monopoly like board games with anti-smoking
messages.
Under the new law which was voted by parliament this July, the
smoking ban applies to all enclosed public areas, from hospitals to
offices, malls and restaurants, cafes, buses, metro and taxis with
only exception for casinos and night clubs larger than 300 square
meters with live music. Their owners will have a transitional
period until June 1, 2011 to comply.
Individuals and owners of the rest of indoors spaces have a
transitional period of one month to fully respect the ban. From
September 1 they will get warnings from municipal police and from
October 1 this year they face fines from 50 to 500 euros (63 to 630
U.S. dollars) for individuals and 500 to 10,000 euros (630 to
12,630 U.S. dollars) for companies. As a motivation for the strict
implementation of the law the central government decided to give a
80 percent of all revenues from fines to local
governments.
Restaurant and caf owners who will repeatedly not comply with the
ban and allow customers to light up cigarettes, face the prospect
of closure for ten days on the fourth time and permanent closing
down the fifth time they will not respect the law.
Entrepreneurs at Syntagma square in central Athens in front of the
Parliament building, argue that the measure is implemented in a
difficult time for them, since they already estimate severe losses
of revenues due to the economic crisis and they struggle to
survive.
But they acknowledge that the measure is more fair than the
previous idea of creating separate areas for smokers and non
smokers indoors, which demanded a significant amount of funds from
owners to raise glass walls to keep the two groups apart. With a
ban without exceptions, competition is more fair for owners of
small cafes and restaurants.
Heavy smokers such as 36-year-old waiter George Panagopoulos who
repeatedly asked for 5-minute breaks from work on Wednesday to go
outdoors and smoke, are not ready to accept the change.
"We will find ways to resist somehow. First they make cutbacks on
our wages and allowances, then our pensions. Now they try to
enforce smoking ban everywhere. What comes next? Not breathing? We
should not accept it," said Panagopoulos.
Other fellow smokers though like Vangelis Prasakis, start thinking
that "it might be about time to follow other European citizens'
example and simply stop harming ourselves."
The new law also places restrictions on tobacco advertising and the
sale of cigarettes to minors.
