Noted farmer leader and former MP Y. Sivaji on Sunday suggested the Centre to impose a cess of 2 to 3 per cent on sale of cigarettes in the country to provide compensation to growers volunteering to dismantle tobacco barns.
“The need of the hour is a comprehensive policy to discourage tobacco cultivation as well as tobacco consumption in tune with India's commitment to WHO,” he said reacting to cigarette manufacturers shutting shop in protest against larger pictoral warning.
Revenue realised on the sale of cigarettes could be used for promoting alternative crops and doing away with the barns, the primary unit of processing of tobacco leaf, he suggested.
He said the farmers shared the government’s concerns over public health and the same had been conveyed to the then Prime Minister A.B.Vajpayee when the latter visited the Basavatarakam Indo American Cancer Hospital & Research Institute in 2000.
The farmers, particularly in drought-prone Prakasam district, would be happy to quit tobacco cultivation altogether if the government showed an economically viable alternative and provided irrigation water.
In this context, he referred to the growers coming under Central Black Soil (CBS) in Krishna and Guntur districts switching over from tobacco to other crops.
He charged the Union Commerce Ministry with turning a Nelson’s eye to the Tobacco Board, which was self-supporting unlike the other commodity, by not appointing a full-fledged chairman, executive director, secretary and board members at a time when the tobacco sector witnessed tough times.
A comprehensive policy is needed to discourage tobacco cultivation as well as tobacco consumption.
Y. Sivaji
Former MP
