Reeling under debt and agitated by recent suicides by tobacco farmers, the Federation of All India Farmer Associations (FAIFA) on Tuesday demanded CBI investigation into lobbying by ‘health activists’ who have been seeking ban of tobacco products in the country. The FAIFA members allege that such ‘health activists’ were serving the interests of foreign business syndicates rather than the Indian citizens.
On Tuesday, they held demonstration in front of the residence of Dilip Gandhi, Chief of Parliamentary Committee on tobacco and Union Health Minister JP Nadda seeking withdrawal of bigger pictorial warnings on tobacco packaging to be implemented from April 1 next year.
Hailing from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Gujarat and Rajasthan, the farmers affiliated with the FAIFA which is engaged in the cultivation of cash crops, also cautioned the Government that the claims of anti-tobacco lobby should not be blindly followed, alleging that most of the anti-tobacco lobby is funded by foreign sources.
“Even those who are not directly funded, their motives need to be investigated. There has been a concerted effort by some of the foreign players with vested interests to see India converting from a tobacco exporter to a net tobacco importer, as India is the second largest tobacco consuming country in the world after China,” said a statement from the association.
The farmers also submitted their appeal to Nadda and Gandhi demanding withdrawal of the proposed Graphical Health Warnings notification on tobacco packaging, which envisages a revision in the existing warning from 40 per cent of the pack front to 85 per cent of both sides of the pack.
The FAIFA members plans to take their appeal to the Ministry of Finance, Commerce, labour and Employment and Parliamentary Affairs, BJP President and the leaders of opposition to demand immediate correction of “unfriendly” policies and withdrawal of the proposed notification on Graphical Health Warnings.
“We demand the Government to reconsider the proposed pictorial warning notification and initiate a CBI enquiry into the funding trails of these activists,” the farmer leaders said. The FAIFA cited the recent quantum jump in the illegal sales of smuggled cigarettes which, they said, were not only made of cheap quality tobacco but often do not carry any pictorial warning, was an evidence of a faulty policy design perpetrated by wrong propaganda of the health activists.