Sending a clear message that his Government was not buckling under pressure from the tobacco lobby, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday directed Health Minister JP Nadda to go ahead with enforcing larger pictorial warnings on tobacco products, notwithstanding a Parliamentary Committee’s contrarian views.
Modi has suggested for pictorial warnings to cover 60-65 per cent, up from the existing 40 per cent but below the proposed 85 per cent, of the principal display area of tobacco products — cigarette, beedi and chewable tobacco. Sources said Modi has also asked Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu to make a list of MPs on Parliamentary Committees with conflict of interest. Modi wants all such MPs out of Parliamentary panels, sources added.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley did not directly comment on the issue of removal of these members but said, “There is a system in Parliament and it has also been written in the rules of procedures. There is one opinion that it should be changed. This is in the hands of Parliament, in the hands of the chair. It is not the issue concerning the Government.”
The Government had deferred the April 1 deadline for implementation of 85 per cent pictorial warnings after the Committee of Subordinate legislations examining the provisions of Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act 2003 sought more time from the Government to hear all stakeholders and asked it keep the decision in abeyance until it submits its final report.
BJP MP and chairperson of the committee Dilip Kumar Gandhi said there were no conclusive Indian studies to show that tobacco causes cancer while beedi baron and BJP MP Shyam Charan Gupta, a member on the committee, said there was a global conspiracy to kill India's beedi industry. Another BJP MP Ram Prasad Sarmah claimed there was no clear proof yet linking cigarette puffing and cancer even while wondering whether tobacco contains “herbal medicine”.
Under attack from the Opposition that there was 'conflict of interest', Modi had to intervene even as the Government dissociated itself from all the remarks by its MPs. Nadda on Saturday maintained that the Government will stand firm on reducing consumption of tobacco. At the BJP conclave in Bengaluru, Modi reportedly said that parliamentary committees must not include members who could have a conflict of interest with the matters they are reviewing.
Jaitley made it clear that the decision of the Government in the matter will not be based on the opinions of individuals. Asserting that a “multi-pronged” approach to discourage tobacco use was needed, Jaitley maintained, “Individuals can give individual opinions, but the Government takes measured and responsible decisions. Therefore in the last two months and in my two Budgets, I have certainly reflected the collective thinking of the Government. The Government will always take a measured decision as far as this issue is concerned.”
According to various studies, up to 9,00,000 Indians die every year from causes related to tobacco use, the Government has said. India will record 1.5 million tobacco-related deaths annually by 2020, estimates the International Tobacco Control Project.