A one day workshop on Tobacco Control Act and National Tobacco Control Programme was held 20th March in the community library in District Karauli in Rajasthan. The workshop was attended by about 80 participants from NGO's, Activists, local politicians, Parshad, leader of bidi union and women leaders of SHG etc. the main topics of discussion included the health effects of tobacco, COTPA and NTCP, role of NGO and efforts of VHAI and R-VHA.

The broad objectives of the programme was to do advocacy with the district level agencies both Government and non government to orient hem about the provisions of COTPA and ensure participation of the Civil Society in the implementation of the tobacco control Act.

The programme was presided by Sh. Satya Narayan Singh , President R-VHA and vote of thanks was proposed by Sri Venugopal, Board member ekat Sanstha.

A very vocal discussion took place among the participants and every one agreed to the fact that the government is playing a dual role on one hand it has enacted COTPA to take care of the demand side concerns and on the other side it is promoting tobacco cultivation and trade by using a variety of state instruments and it has till not addressed the supply side concerns. The participants agreed to the fact that tobacco is more of a livelihood issue as it supports the livelihood of millions of farmers. They said that the government should address the issue in the same way as it addressed the issue of drought. They further added that the COTPA has been enacted in 2003 and even after 6 years government does not have any scheme for providing the farmers and workers to provide alternative livelihood to them. They said that governments approach is a piece meal approach as it has only enacted COTPA, addressing one side of the coin only.

The leader of the local bidi union shared that non of the rollers in his union smoke, this skill has been handled to the people generation after generation by its ancestors and has now become a part of their cultural heritage. The mahila parshad took keen interest and wanted to know what can be done to wean away the women bidi rollers and what help the government is providing in this regard.

All the participants shared the concern that in the absence of state enforcement plan how they are going to contribute in effective implementation of the Act and the rules thereunder.

Findings of the workshop

• The participants had many queries about the provisions of COTPA and how to implement and monitor it.
• The awareness about the harm effects of tobacco was low and second hand smoke was negligible.
• It is a beedi rolling area, hence we can start programme on alternative livelihood in the area in a small and targeted way.
• The civil society movement is strong and vocal and have played a watchdog role in the implementation & monitoring of the PCPNDT Act in the district.
• There is to educate the law enforcers in the district, although this is not a NTCP district.