Four years after a largely ignored smoking ban saw people continue to puff away in restaurants, clubs and bars, India has once again imposed a ban on smoking in public places.
One in three Indians smokes some form of tobacco, officials say, and a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in February this year said one in every 10 deaths in India from 2010 would be smoking-related.
The government has made smoking a top issue, with Bollywood stars urged by the health minister to stub out their cigarettes, on-screen smoking forbidden and health workers telephoning residents in the capital offering help to quit.
But the drive against smoking in public foundered.
"The problem was public spaces are a huge sphere, but there was no onus on the person in charge of the public place to implement the law," said Braj Kishore Prasad, the health official in charge of India's anti-smoking drive.
Prasad said the new ban has increased the areas included in the prohibition, roping in college campuses, bars and discos, and has directed establishments to appoint anti-smoking officers who will be liable if people smoke.
The fine amount remains the same, at 200 rupees, and people may still smoke at home, in their cars, in parks and on streets.
India's cigarette giant, the Indian Tobacco Company, and the country's hotel lobby fought for a stay but the plea was rejected by the Supreme Court Monday.
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