Golden Tobacco first to print bigger warnings on packets

After days of dilly-dallying, Golden Tobacco Limited has become the first one to implement 85 per cent pictorial health warnings on both sides of tobacco packets on their brands, such as Panama. The packets bear April 2016 as the manufacturing date.

The other tobacco manufacturing companies have shut production since April 1 in protest against the government’s notification of new “bolder” pictorial warnings. The Tobacco Institute of India (TII), a lobby group that represents 98 per cent of India’s cigarette industry, had “unanimously decided to shut all their cigarette factories with effect from April 1 citing “ambiguity” on the policy related to revision of graphic health warnings on tobacco product packs. However, the government has decided to remain firm on its decision. “It is their choice to shut production. They can keep claiming tall losses but there is no looking back on the decision,” said a senior official in the health ministry.

In fact, the the health secretary has already written to all key government departments — revenue, commerce, external affairs, labour, civil aviation, tourism — to ensure effective implementation of the new specified health warnings on cigarettes and other tobacco products.