Jairam Ramesh said the governance motto is "a headline a day keeps news of the worsening slowdown away".

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh took a dig at the Centre's decision banning production, import and sale of e-cigarettes, saying the governance motto now is "a headline a day keeps news of the worsening slowdown away".

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced on Wednesday that production, import and sale of e-cigarettes will be banned in India with immediate effect, citing health risk to people, especially children. An ordinance will be brought in to make it an offence, entailing jail term up to three years as well as fine.

"Yet another 'big bang' announcement by FM. Obviously the governance motto now is 'A headline a day keeps news of the worsening slowdown away'," Mr Ramesh said in a tweet.

Yet another 'big bang' announcement by FM. Obviously the governance motto now is ' A headline a day keeps news of the worsening slowdown away'.https://t.co/zPczt4LXEb — Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) September 18, 2019

The government's move comes just a week after US President Donald Trump proposed a ban on flavoured e-cigarettes.

The Prohibition of E-cigarettes Ordinance, 2019, was recently examined by a Group of Ministers (GoM) following directions from the Prime Minister's Office.

In the draft ordinance, the Health Ministry had proposed a jail term of up to one year along with a penalty of Rs 1 lakh against first time violators. This can go up to imprisonment of three years or a fine up to Rs 5 lakhs for subsequent violations.

The ordinance will need to be approved by parliament when it returns for the next session due in November.