Issue 10
Tobacco Control in India
Fortnightly News Summary
NATIONAL HEADLINES
♦ When Lalu Prasad realised chewing khaini is a 'bad
habit'
The spotlessly clean railway stations in Japan put
Railways Minister Lalu Prasad in a bit of a spot - he
couldn't find a place to spit the red juice of khaini, a
tobacco mixture he loves to chew, and realized it had
become a "bad habit". 'I realised chewing khaini had
become a bad habit during my recent visit to Japan,' Lalu
Prasad said here Friday. (Source: Yahoo News: 24 January 2009)
♦ India tobacco exports surge 46 pct in Apr-Dec
India's tobacco exports surged 46 percent to $543.6
million in first nine months of fiscal 2008/09, as output
cuts in Europe forced overseas buyers to source more
produce from the country, a senior official said. (Source:
Reuters India: 29 January 2009)
♦ Tobacco stubbing out in public, govt to demarcate
special zones for smokers
Almost four months into the ban on smoking in public
places, the Delhi government plans to take it a step
forward by demarcating space for smoking and no-
smoking in public areas such as restaurants, pubs and
airport lounges. The guidelines, which government
officials say are as per international standards, are set to
be implemented in time for the Commonwealth Games in
2010. (Source: Indian Express: 28 January 2009)
♦ Further dilution of pictorial tobacco warnings feared
The Group of Ministers (GoM) in India will again meet to
assuage concerns of tobacco lobby on pictorial warnings,
health activists apprehend. This group of ministers (GoM)
consists of: Pranab Mukherjee (External Affairs Minister),
Kamal Nath (Commerce and Industry Minister),
Priyaranjan Dasmunsi (former Information and
Broadcasting Minister), S Jaipal Reddy (Urban
Development Minister), Dr Anbumani Ramadoss (Health
and family welfare Minister), and Oscar Fernandes (labour
and employment Minister for state). (Source: Thai-Indian News:
23 January 2009)
♦ Tobacco exports jump 13% on global demand
Tobacco shipment from India, the third-largest exporter in
the world, surged by 61% to Rs 2,428 crore till December
2008 on better price realizations and weakening rupee
against the dollar. Prices of tobacco skyrocketed to a
record average of Rs 84.85 per kg during auctions in
Andhra Pradesh in 2008 against Rs 47.47 the previous
year. (Source: The Economic Times: 26 January 2009)
♦ After months of smoking ban, Chhattisgarh yet to
file a case
Chhattisgarh police, yet to register a maiden case against
a smoker even after three months of ban on smoking in
public places, say they have more serious jobs in hand in
the Maoist insurgency-hit state.Top officers at the police
headquarters here said the state police, having a strength
of nearly 40,000 personnel for nearly 20.08 million
population, were still looking for the first case against a
smoker. (Source: IANS: 16 December 2008)
Provided by the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use
17-30 January 2009
STATE HEADLINES, Delhi
♦ Health ministry engages CTRI for Alternative crops
for Bidi and Chewing Tobacco
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has sanctioned
Rs. 2.17 crore to Central Tobacco Research Institute
(CTRI), Rajahmundhry, to under take a pilot project on
“Alternative cropping system to bidi and chewing tobacco”
at Nandyal (A.P.), Anand (Gujarat), Dharmaj (Gujarat),
Nipani (Karnataka), Vedasandur (Tamil Nadu) and
Dinhata (West Bengal). (Source: Press Information Bureau, New
Delhi, Delhi: 21 January 2009)
♦ Republic of control
Consider the attempt by Anbumani Ramadoss, the Union
health minister, to ban the depiction of smoking in films.
Admirable as his attempts to curb smoking are (every
non-smoker must appreciate any campaign to educate
people about the risks of smoking), banning its depiction
in films was taking it a step too far. One always had the
feeling that this was simply an extension of the minister’s
instinct to be a control-freak and attention-seeker — look
at how he runs our premier medical establishment, AIIMS
— than more noble motives. (Source: Indian Express, New Delhi,
Delhi: 29 January 2009)
♦ Women going to pubs is against “Indian culture”
say people across political devices
Both smoking and drinking can be injurious to health, but
the opposition is not on those grounds, and those
addictions among men are never opposed. The BJP tried
to step back from the views of the Sri Ram Sene that
carried out the assault at a Mangalore pub on Saturday,
but many senior party members and other Hindu
nationalist groups stuck to the attackers’ belief that
women should not drink or smoke. (Source: Hindustan Times,
New Delhi, Delhi: 29 January 2009)
♦ City to be made smoke-free this year
The Delhi cabinet today decided to authorise MLAs to
recommend development works from unreleased MLA
land area development scheme (MLALADS) funds
pertaining to 1994-95 and 2008-09. It has also approved a
proposal to make the city smoke-free by 2009 through a
project in collaboration with Bloomberg Global Initiative
(BGI). (Source: The Tribune, New Delhi, Delhi: 29 January 2009
♦ Tax man seizes Rs 13.5 cr cash from gutka owner
In a major cash haul, Income Tax officials today seized Rs
13.5 crore during searches at the premises of a gutka
manufacturer. The IT sleuths searched as many as three
premises of the manufacturer following allegations that his
company had evaded tax to the tune of Rs 102 crore,
sources in the IT department said. More than 60 sleuths of
the department searched the office and residential
premises of the manufacturer, headquartered in Delhi.
(Source: Rediff News, New Delhi, Delhi: 24 January 2009)
♦ Rs 2.17 crore project for tobacco alternative
The country also faces problems like tobacco-related oral
cancer, head and neck cancer and the uterine cervical
 Issue 10
cancer like all developing countries. "We need innovative
solutions which are affordable using low technology.
(Source: The Asian Age, New Delhi, Delhi: 22 January 2009)

Provided by the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use