Ahmedabad

Tobacco farmers of Gujarat who represent 48% of India’s farm land under tobacco cultivation are facing an unprecedented threat to their livelihoods because of the continuous closure of the production by tobacco product manufactures. Production of cigarettes, beedis and chewing tobacco has been stopped by all manufacturers across India, because of sudden enforcement of undemocratic regulation to enlarge Graphic Health Warnings on tobacco products to 85% from April 1, 2016 by the central Government.

Gujarat also has more than 1.5 lakhs micro-retailers, traders and panwallas, selling tobacco products across the state. Their livelihoods primarily depend on selling of tobacco products. Sale of other confectionary and supplementary products stocked by these micro retailers is also totally dependent on the success of retailing of tobacco products. Because of the industry closure, and stocks running out shortly, the retailers are also facing a huge threat to loss of income.

There are 4.5 lakh farmers engaged in tobacco cultivation in Gujarat, whose entire families are dependent on tobacco for their livelihoods. Tobacco is cultivated on 1,50,000 hectare of farm land in Gujarat, with annual production of 360 million kg of tobacco produce. In value terms this amounts to approx Rs. 3000 crore in monetary value for Gujarat tobacco farmers.

April is the peak selling time for Gujarat tobacco farmers to sell their crops to manufacturers. Because of industry closure, and the manufacturers having suspended tobacco buying, 100% of tobacco produce is lying unsold at the farmers home. These crops are stocked in the open at farmer homes as there are no proper storage facilities to stock them. With monsoon expected to arrive soon, the entire crop is under threat of getting damaged, killing the annual earnings prospects for Gujarat farmers unexpectedly.

These claims were made by Gujarat Tobacco Merchants Association today during media interaction in Ahmedabad.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri. Bhikhu Bhai Patel, President, Gujarat Tobacco Merchants Association, said, “The tobacco farmers and retailers of Gujarat are facing an unprecedented threat because of the policy shock of 85% warnings on beedis and chewing tobacco,which has lead to overnight closure of the tobacco industry in India. We humbly urge the Government to urgently reverse this anti-farmer rule and direct the beedi and chewing tobacco manufacturers to resume tobacco buying. An arbitrary, unreasonable and impractical tobacco policy has mass scale adverse social ramifications for poor farmers and beedi workers in India, which are being put under cover under the pretext of popular policies”.

“If rains arrive before tobacco buying is resumed in Gujarat, entire tobacco produce worth Rs. 3000 crore will get destroyed, and farmers will be forced to turn beggars or commit suicide”, he added.

Shri. Raju Bhai, representing the Ahmedabad Paan Beedi Vikreta Association, said, “The micro tobacco retailers of Gujarat are in panic mode because of the threat to their livelihoods. With tobacco production having stopped, how will small retailers sustain their businesses”.

“We humbly request for a recall of the action to implement the undemocratic rule of 85% warnings. These rules were framed without following a consultative process with all stakeholders inconsistent with the principles of legislation making, as they were totally driven by the anti-tobacco lobby. Non-Government members of the Expert Committee which formulated these rules were all NGO’s and anti-tobacco activists, making the decision one-sided and biased”, he added.

The association office bearers further said: It seems that the process of referring the matter to a Parliamentary Committee on Subordinate Legislation was a confusing tactic, as despite the committee tabling its report after consulting a wide range of stakeholders, its recommendations have no bearing to the rule which has been put into effect from April 1, 2016.The farmers and retailers of Gujarat are shocked with the current lock-out of the industry as this will harm the interests of the retailers, traders, farmers, the industry players along with those of tobacco consumers and the tax collections by the exchequer.If there are no domestic manufacturers, then all retailers would gradually be compelled to only sell smuggled and illegal tobacco products, which will make them highly vulnerable to exploitation and penal action from local inspectors. We are being forced to put our future at the mercy of smugglers. We appeal to our Prime Minister to prevent the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare from setting a visible example of undemocratic legislation and should allow the policy be driven by the views of the foreign-funded anti-Indian-tobacco lobby, in complete disregard to the interest of millions of Indian stakeholders. We urge that collective views of all stakeholders must reflect in the rules on Graphic Health Warnings. We also appeal to the Indian tobacco manufacturers to resume production at the earliest, as a shortage of supply will make cigarettes and other tobacco products expensive in the short term, and make a permanent damage to our business. It would be important to note that the top three tobacco consuming countries viz USA, China and Japan, between them accounting for 51% of global tobacco consumption have only text based warnings and have not adopted pictorial warnings. In United States of America courts have held that pictorial warnings on tobacco products are unconstitutional and violative of fundamental principles of democracy. It is also important to note that beedis and chewing tobacco are native to India, and global formulas on warnings should not be applied to them as there is no scientific data to back claims of such policy among this category of products. The tobacco retailer community is already facing threat because of continuous rise in taxes on tobacco products across states, which has hampered the livelihood prospects of retailers, and the wellbeing of their dependent children and families is under threat. We strongly believe, that the implementation of larger Graphic Health Warnings is neither practical, nor is in the interest of either the consumer, the retailer, the farmer or the Government. We urge your immediate intervention to stop the vested NGO’s and so called health guardians, who act under foreign influence from lobbying against Indian tobacco products and address our concerns and problems.

– DeshGujarat

🗃️ This story is from our archives and may contain outdated information.