::: Resource Centre For Tobacco Free India - Partnership For Tobacco Control & Building Grassroot level movement in India:::

A number of landmark activities and developments have taken place in recent months which have strengthened the tobacco control campaign in India:

New Delhi, 11th February, 2011: Voices of Victims - An event conceived by Cancer Victims

Shimla, 02 February, 2011: VHAI in collaboration with its state partner Himachal Voluntary Health Association (HPVHA) organized Media Sensitization workshop

New Delhi On 6th January, 2011: Pack Warning Case Hearing Held In The Supreme Court

New Delhi, December 2010: Press Meets at State level on the deferment of New Pictorial Health Warning

Political Advocacy

VHAI used all available, relevant forums and opportunities to meet Parliamentarians and flag the issue of public health in general and tobacco control in particular. Those contacted include prominent Parliamentarians like Smt Sushma Swaraj, Smt Krishna Tirath, Shri Kapil Sibal and Ms. Brinda Karat. Detailed meetings were held with Mr. Thomas Sangma & Mr. P.D. Rai who evinced interest in orienting MPs from the North East on tobacco control issues. VHAI’s comprehensive range of IEC materials was also shared with the Members and close follow-up has been initiated.

VHAI’s regular updates and continuous advocacy on tobacco control with parliamentarians, senior bureaucrats and political leaders through letters, newsletters and e-mails, have lead to many questions raised in the Monsoon session of the Parliament this year, reflecting current issues and concerns in tobacco control. VHAI has also sent representations to all the members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on health sharing its disappointment at the delay in implementation of the new pack warning.

Some of the questions raised by Parliamentarians:
• Whether the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 prohibits employment of children below the age of 14 years in bidi making and tobacco processes etc?
• Whether most of bidi workers are women and they are paid lesser remuneration in violation of the Equal remuneration Act 1976?
• Whether a rise in the number of cases of mouth and other type of cancer, particularly among women and children due to smoking and consumption of tobacco products ahs been noticed in recent years in the country?
• Whether as per some studies, the existing pictorial health warnings on tobacco products are inadequate in conveying the adverse impact of tobacco use on health?
• The details of steps taken by the Government to check surrogate advertising and brand promotion activities by tobacco industry?
(for more details please visit www.rctfi.org)

Sub-national Advocacy on Tobacco Control

• Andhra Pradesh: A state-level Surprise Check Committee has been set up to monitor compliance, with the Secretary, Andhra Pradesh VHA as the convener. This is an outcome of regular advocacy by Andhra Pradesh VHA with the State Health Department.
• Uttar Pradesh: As a result of regular advocacy efforts of UP VHA, the State Government has recently passed an order banning consumption of gutka in the UP SRTC buses. The order also mandated display of signages inside buses with a provision for penalty.
• Jammu and Kashmir: J & K VHDA filed a PIL in the High Court of Srinagar and the HC in its order directed the State Government to expedite the implementation of the smoke free rules and ban on sale of tobacco products within 100 yards of educational institutions. A number of supportive orders have also been issued by the government to facilitate the implementation of the Section 4 & Section 6 of the COTPA. Further, an awareness-cum-training programme of senior level police officers and drug control inspectors was organized by J&K VHDA in collaboration with the newspaper, Greater Kashmir and Big 92.7 FM on in May 2010 for the effective enforcement of the Tobacco Control Act, 2003. Through this workshop, enforcement officers and senior officials like Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, District Development Commissioner, Joint Director of Information, senior level officers of police, food and drug control department and media persons were oriented on tobacco control and COTPA, paving the way for strengthening of the enforcement mechanism in Srinagar.
• Tripura: Tripura VHA is working with the State Tobacco Control Cell and Agartala Municipal Council to make Agartala a smoke-free city. Various initiatives have been launched, including advocacy with political leadership, training of enforcement officials, press meets and public awareness activities. More than 2200 signages have been put up across the city and all tobacco advertisements have been removed. Awareness-cum-training workshop at J&K VHDA
• Shimla: A strong initiative to make Shimla smoke-free has been launched on World No Tobacco Day by Himachal Pradesh VHA and State Tobacco Control Cell, under the leadership of the Health Minister. 97% of public places in Shimla are already adhering to smoke-free rules, as per a compliance study by the Union.
• Bhubaneshwar: Aparajita VHAI is pursuing the goal of smoke free city of Bhubaneswar. The collaborative initiatives of civil society action on tobacco control has resulted in a strong support and coordination among Health department, Commissionerate of Police, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, National Rural Health Mission, media, civil society organizations, health institutions and youth groups. Activities include coalition meetings, orientation of enforcement officials and dissemination of IEC and audio-visual materials.

Advocacy on Increased Taxation and GST

Price and tax measures as enshrined in the Article 6 of Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) is one of the key demand reduction strategies for tobacco control. Currently the taxation structure in India is not rational and bidis are virtually untaxed. One of the core concerns of VHAI is rational taxation of tobacco products without any exemptions. The team has been advocating on this issue intensively in four states - Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan & West Bengal. It has built up capacities to strengthen the advocacy efforts at national/sub-national level in addition to extending technical support and sharing vital information. Initial background work includes profiling of the key people which include the Health Minister, Finance Minister, Health Secretary, Finance Secretary, and Head of Finance Commission (in states where it exists). A framework was prepared to facilitate the state partners in completing the profiling exercise and thereafter, a consolidated mapping document on key stakeholders and senior bureaucrats on tax at state-level along with the specific tax and VAT rates has been completed. A factsheet on tax and GST, important reports and studies on taxation, along with tax-related news from the national level has also been shared with the states.

Implementation of Pictorial Health Warning on all Tobacco Products

The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare requested VHAI to carry out the pretesting of the next round of pictorial health warnings in rural settings. It gave 8 pictograms to be field tested for their efficacy in delivering the intended message, VHAI added 3 additional pictograms and increased the sample size to 100 per state. The pretesting exercise was carried out in the 8 states of Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Sikkim. VHAI used the existing research module of Healis with certain modifications. A total of 100 samples were selected from each state, Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were conducted with men’s groups, women’s groups, youth groups and interviews were held with tobacco users, non users and retailers. With the notification of the deferment in pictorial health warnings VHAI started advocating on the issue with the Office of the Prime Minister, Health Minister, Members of the Standing Committee on Health, key opposition leaders and select MPs, sensitizing them about the urgent need for having stronger pack warnings. The State VHAs too advocated with the political leadership and media at the regional level by using used each and every platform to criticize this retrograde step of the Ministry of Health. Based on the ratings and VHAI’s report, the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW), Govt. of India notified the new pictorial health warning, which was rated by 98% of respondents as the most effective and appropriate in conveying the dangers of tobacco consumption. The new health warning shall come into force on 1st December 2010.

Legal Advocacy

Legal advocacy is a powerful weapon in the battle against the influential tobacco lobby. In the past, VHAI’s active campaign against tobacco through public interest litigations on Tobacco-free Sports resulted in a landmark judgement. More recently, an earlier petition filed by HFM Trust, sister concern of VHAI resulted in an interim order from the Supreme Court in May 2009, leading to the implementation of pack warnings on all tobacco products.

Public Interest Litigation in Supreme Court for delay in implementation of new pictorial health warning

Reflecting serious disappointment and grave concern by Public Health advocates over the Government of India’s decision to defer the new pictorial health warning by 6 months (1st June to 1st December 2010), Health For The Millions Trust has filed a stay application in the Supreme Court challenging the new govt. notification (vide GSR 411(E) dated 17th May 2010) issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, GoI. This stay application is part of the ongoing PIL filed by HFM in the Supreme Court to ensure implementation of pictorial health warnings on all tobacco products. The PIL filed on the deferment of pictorial warnings by HFM Trust was covered by major newspapers. New Notified Pictorial Warning on Tobacco Products

PIL on Child Labour in the Supreme Court

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed by the Health for the Millions Trust, a sister concern of VHAI in November 2009 in the Supreme Court. The plea asked for a complete ban on child labour and the main clause in the law being challenged is that Schedule B of the Prohibition of Child Labour Act which allows children to work in home-based occupations and government-aided schools is violative of the law and the bidi industry is taking advantage of this loophole and are exploiting it to their advantage and to the detriment of children compelled to work in such industries. Two hearings on the case have been held so far and it has been covered by the print media