New Delhi: As the Lok Sabha took up for discussion the Health Security Se National Security Cess Bill, 2025 opposition members raised questions about the nomenclature of the legislation and said it attempted to “inject a certain linguistic flavour into what should be a neutral statutory title” asked why the it sought to merge health and national security into a single cess, and deepen the fiscal imbalance between the Centre and states. Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on the other hand said that the revenue from the cess will be shared with the states for health-related schemes.

In its statement of objects and reasons the bill states that the cess will contribute "towards twin purposes of enabling targeted utilisation for public health, as well as national security."

"The Health Security se National Security Cess Bill proposes to levy cess on the machines installed or processes undertaken by which the specified goods, namely, pan masala is manufactured or produced, whether manually or through hybrid processes," it says.

During the debate in the Lok Sabha, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP T. Sumathy raised questions about the “linguistic hybrid” name of the bill.

“Why this linguistic hybrid?  Why this attempt to inject a certain cultural or linguistic flavour into what should be a neutral statutory title. This is not mere pedantry," she said.

Demanding the "se" in the bill's name be changed to "for" she said that a law passed by parliament should be "accessible, neutral and linguistically equitable."

Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Saugata Roy accused the finance minister of trying “Hindi-se” through the “Hinglish” name given to the bill.

“The finance minister is trying to Hindi-ise herself. This law is called Health Security Se National Security Cess Bill. What is this? This is Hinglish. It is neither Hindi nor English. What language is this? Maybe the finance minister can explain,” he said.

The discussion also saw a heated exchange between Sitharaman and Roy over the minister choosing to speak in Hindi.

Roy said that as a Bengali speaker he did not understand much of what was said as the minister had spoken in Hindi.

“I can choose to speak in Hindi, Telugu or Tamil. Translation services have been provided. The member is raising objections because he has not read the bill properly,” said Sitharaman.

Congress MP Varun Chaudhry also raised the bill's nomenclature and said that for the first time a legislation had been brought in two different languages.

"For the first time a legislation has been brought which is in two languages. Some words in English, some in Hindi. The manner in which we talk, the legislation is also named like this. The name can be in Hindi also but this half-half is not right,” he said.

Opposition members say bill would undermine federalism

During the discussion, opposition members also raised questions about the bill being outside the divisible pool, which would undermine federalism with states not receiving a share.

“The federal balance is not decorative – it's the engine of our healthcare system, and no national security structure can stand on a weakened foundation of fiscal federalism. This bill proposes a new cess on machines and processes manufacturing pan masala. The cess is outside the divisible pool. States that run almost the entire public health machinery will receive nothing," said Congress MP Prabha Mallikarjun.

She said that while the finance minister had said that it will be divided between states, the bill itself does not mention so.

"The bill merges two important objectives, health and national security, into a single cess. This dilutes clarity, increases the risk of diversion and makes auditing across two priority sectors very difficult," she said.

TMC’s Roy also said that the finance minister has chosen to bring the bill on a day when the rupee has fallen to an all-time low and no scheme has been announced to tackle air pollution in Delhi.

“On a day that the rupee has fallen to an all-time low, it has crossed Rs. 90 to the dollar. The economy is in such a terrible condition, the finance minister has not cared to come and make a statement in the house is very unfortunate. The finance minister is talking about health security at a time when citizens in Delhi are demonstrating against air pollution. The finance minister has not announced any scheme to control air pollution,” he said.

Nationalist Congress Party – (Sharadchandra Pawar) (NCP–SP)) MP Supriya Sule asked why the bill was brought in the form of cess.

"We are happy to pay tax on demerit goods. But why in the form of cess? If this cess ever has to be doubled, they don't need to bring it back to parliament. If you want to increase taxes on any good which is not good for society at large we are with you. We were with you on GST and Operation Sindoor. But why won't you bring it to parliament?" she asked.

Sule said that the legislation should be brought in the form of tax instead and shared with states.

Samajwadi Party MP Virendra Singh said that tobacco and pan masala causes cancer among poor people, while the legislation proposes to increase cess on it.

"I hope that the revenue will help in tackling this. The minister has added health security with national security by creating an environment in which anyone opposes this will be anti-national. Just in Purvanchal every year 2 lakh people are affected by cancer. If cancer is detected early it can be cured. Mouth cancer is increasing among those who take gutka and khaini in villages,” he said.

In her remarks while introducing the bill, Sitharaman said that by increasing the cess on pan masala, the government believes that consumption will reduce and it will act as a deterrent. She also said that the second objective, national security requires sustained investment and the cess will fund critical national priorities without burdening ordinary citizens on essential consumption.

She also said that the cess will be part of the divisible pool of taxes that are shared with the states.

“While normally cess is collected by centre but we will give to states as well because it will include undertaking health related activities,” she said.

“It is not imposed on consumption but on machine based and capacity based linked tax. Pan masala is not excisable that is why this is being brought. It will not have any impact on GST,” she added.

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