Members of a parliamentary panel looking into the vexed issue of pictorial warnings on tobacco products are understood to have favoured drastic reduction in size of such warnings to 50 per cent from the proposed 85 per cent, terming it "too harsh".
Ahead of the April 1 deadline for increasing pictorial warnings on cigarette and beedi products from present 40 to 85 per cent, the panel members suggested that it should be 50 per cent instead, as "the proposed graphic warnings have potential to severely affect Indian farmers and companies".
"The Committee is of the considered view that in order to have a balanced approach, the warning on cigarette packets should be 50 per cent on both sides of the principal display area instead of 85 per cent of the area, as it will be too harsh and will result in flooding of illicit cigarettes in the country," the report is learnt to have suggested.
Highly-placed sources said though a number of committee members was not present, those present have authorised Chairman Dilip Gandhi to finalise the report.
Since the Aadhar Bill was discussed in Lok Sabha at the time, some members urged the committee Chairman not to rush through the report and postpone the meeting instead. The report is likely to be submitted in Parliament in a day or two, the sources added.
Committee chairman Dilip Gandhi was not available for comments.
In the case of beedi products, the panel is learnt to have favoured pictorial graphic warnings of 50 per cent display size on only one side of the product.
The Committee also favoured suggesting to the government to stress on education and education generation programmes that have been proved to be more effective and at the same time protect the livelihood of millions of tobacco workers.
Referring to a study by the Department of Commerce and another by global consultancy firm Deloitte, the panel also laid stress on its findings on assessment of tobacco products in 27 countries that there has been "no impact" of large and cumbersome health warnings and "unintended consequences will be severe and irreversible".
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Favouring the beedi manufacturers, committee members are also learnt to have argued that if 85 per cent of area is earmarked for printing specified health warning, there is virtually no space left for brand logo, name and address of manufacturer, customer care numbers as required by Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011.
The Committee also heard various stakeholders including beedi manufacturers and workers, who contended that beedi industry would not be able to survive if big health warnings are "forced upon them".
The views of the beedi industry, it said, was not sought before drafting the pictorial warning rules by the Health Ministry and beedi manufacturers had stated that the 85 per cent health warning implementation "would hammer a death knell for the entire industry and millions of people will become jobless, leading to social unrest".
The new pictorial health warnings covering 85 per cent on both sides of all tobacco packs was notified in October 2014 to be implemented from April 1, 2015. However, government indefinitely delayed implementation of 85 per cent pictorial health warnings after a parliamentary committee directed the Health Ministry to keep the notification in abeyance.
The Rajasthan High Court has also directed the Health Ministry to take steps for implementation of pictorial warnings from April 1, 2016 and there should not be any further delay in implementing the 85 per cent picture health warnings on both sides of tobacco packets.
The Health Ministry has been insistent on implementing 85 per cent pictorial health warnings on both sides of all tobacco products and even submitted an affidavit in the High Court that it will be implemented from April 1, 2016.
The panel, in its 210th report, presented on September 3, 2013 to Rajya Sabha, had recommended that the Ministry should strengthen rules relating to statutory warnings by prescribing stronger, effective and field tested pictorial health warnings covering at least 90 per cent of the principal display area of the tobacco products.
