NGOs and youth activists today urged the Centre to set a date for implementing the proposed increased pictorial warning on tobacco products, saying large warnings will prevent youth from experimenting with tobacco products.
Mired in controversy, the government has put on hold its decision to increase the pictorial warnings on tobacco products to 85 per cent from the present 40 per cent after a parliamentary panel urged it to wait till it submits its final report. The rule was to come into effect from April 1 this year.
"Young people realise the importance of leading a healthy and productive life and know that tobacco is a major impediment to our progress. We urge the Government to take immediate action because these pictures can save lives by warning young people about the dangers of tobacco use.
"We want to know when the 85 per cent pictorial health warnings will be implemented. We have written to the Prime Minister for an opportunity to meet him and submit our plea," Bahar Shoogufan, a youth health advocate of HRIDAY said during a conference jointly organised by it and Public Health Foundation of India where MP Baijayant Panda was also present.
As per the figures, around 20 lakh youth start consuming tobacco annually in India, which is ranked a low 136 among countries and territories worldwide in terms of package warning size.
Implementation of 85 per cent size for tobacco package warnings would place India in a position of international leadership.
Noting that youth play an integral role in society, Panda said that their voices count and must be heard.
"The battle for pictorial warnings has been ongoing and we must keep pushing for larger pictorial warnings and plain packaging of tobacco products. We, Parliamentarians are supporting the cause and twenty of us have written in support of larger pictorial warnings," he said.
The issue has been mired in controversy after a Parliamentary panel member, a 'beedi' baron, Shyama Charan Gupta advocated that beedis have no harmful effects.
Gupta's presence in the committee was criticised by the Opposition parties which sought his removal from the panel, saying there was a clear "conflict of interest".
