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Tobacco Control Legislation
Even before the FCTC was adopted at the WHA, the Govt. of
India initiated and enacted the national tobacco-control legislation namely, “The Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products
(Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce,
Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003” on 18 May, 2003. The
salient features of this legislation include total ban on direct and indirect
advertisements of all tobacco products; prohibition on sponsorship of sports
and cultural events which encourage tobacco use; ban on smoking in public
places; ban on sale of tobacco products to minors; ban on sale of cigarettes
and tobacco products within a radius of 100 yards of educational
institutions; mandatory pictorial depiction of specified health warnings and
clear indication of nicotine and tar contents on packets and cartons of all
tobacco products.
The rules for some provisions of the said Act, 2003
relating to prohibition of smoking in a public place, prohibition of
advertisements and sponsorship of cigarettes and other tobacco products and
prohibition of sale of cigarette and other tobacco products to a person below
the age of 18 years come into the force with effect from 1st May,
2004.
Gazette Notification issued on 31st May, 2005
The provision for prohibition of sale of cigarettes and
other tobacco products around educational institution came into force with
effect from 1st December, 2004. Violation of any of these
provisions is be a punishable offence, whose punishment includes fine or /
and imprisonment.
Impact of
tobacco usage scenes in films on youth The WHO
study on the portrayal of tobacco in Indian cinema its impact on youth
audience (2003) reported that movies/television programs with smoking and
tobacco usage scenes exert the decisive influence on the adolescent age group
which is most vulnerable to initiation of tobacco use. It was also found that
76% of the Indian movies that were analyzed portrayed tobacco consumption and
the good characters account for approximately 50% of portrayal incidence.
Taking due cognizance of this public health threat, the
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare amended the rules of the Tobacco
Control Act, 2003 to ban display of tobacco products or their use in movies
or television through a gazette notification issued on 31st May
2005. In addition, sale of tobacco products through vending machines, sale of
tobacco products by minors and visible stacking of tobacco products at the
point of sale was also banned to prevent easy access of tobacco products to
minors. In this notification, indirect advertisement of tobacco products has
also been clearly defined to prevent violations.
Advocacy with
Policy makers, Law enforcers and State Health Officials
Strong advocacy efforts through tobacco control workshops
with policy makers, law enforcers, health officials and other stakeholders
have been conducted in States of West Bengal, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh.
A two day workshop was conducted in West
Bengal to sensitize the policy makers and health officials in
the State on the issue of tobacco control. The workshop was inaugurated by
the Hon’ble Speaker of West Bengal Sh. Hashim Abdul Halim and was addressed
by Dr. P. Chatterjee, Directorate of Health Services.
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Inaugural
session was addressed by the Hon’ble Speaker of West Bengal Sh. Hasim Abdul
Halim
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Dr.
S. K. Mishra, Minister In Charge, Health,
Sri
A. Barman, Principal Secretary, Health & Dr. P. Chatterjee, Director of
Health Services addressing the participants during the inaugural session
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A two day workshop on tobacco control was organized in Hyderabad to sensitize
policy makers, health officials and other stakeholders on the issue. Andhra
Pradesh is the largest tobacco growing state in the country. The workshop was
inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh who spoke about the ill
effects of tobacco and the need for tobacco control measures. The
participants included key persons like the Speaker of the Legislative
Assembly, the leader of opposition party, prominent MLAs, government
officials from Union & State Government along with media representatives.
The implementation of the National Tobacco Control Law at
state level is the responsibility of the state governments. In order to
sensitize state health officials on the provisions of the law and their specific roles and responsibilities, a
training workshop was organized in Delhi.
Representatives from 18 states participated and presented the implementation levels of rules and
regulations notified under the national tobacco control law in their
respective states and state wise action plans for effective enforcement of
the law.
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 The Cigarettes and Other
Tobacco Products Act, 2003
Notification
 31 May, 2005
1 September, 2004
25 February, 2004
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