: The Central government’s moves to enforce larger pictorial warnings on tobacco products could affect the livelihoods of 4.8 crore people in India, said Chairman of ITC Limited Y.C Deveshwar here on Friday.
“The Government should first invest in R&D on alternative crops to tobacco before trying to displace tobacco farmers. The tobacco industry provides livelihood to 4.8 crore people and any hasty decision on tobacco will severely impact their lives,’’ Mr. Deveshwar told media persons on the sidelines of the foundation stone laying ceremony of ITC My Fortune-Guntur hotel here on Friday.
Coming down heavily on the NGOs leading the agitation seeking stringent anti-tobacco laws, the Chairman said that it was ironical that countries like the US and Japan have no pictorial health warning on cigarette packs and time and again the courts in the US have struck down laws enforcing larger pictorial warnings on tobacco products.
“As many as 51 per cent of cigarette-consuming countries have no pictorial warnings and in 90 per cent of countries, the size of warnings is less than 20 per cent. The irony is NGOs funded from the U.S., where there are no anti-tobacco laws, have launched an agitation in India,’’ said Mr. Deveshwar.
Ambitious plans
Elaborating on ITC’s plans in the capital region of the State, the Chairman, who had a one-to-one interaction with Chief Minister, said that Guntur is now the headquarters of the country’s agribusiness division and would be the hub of procurement of all food grains, spices etc.
The ITC would continue invest in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and food safety to ensure that all its food products are made in compliance with European food safety standards, he said. The ITC was also looking at investments in shrimp culture in AP, which, with its marine resources, was an ideal destination, he said.
