The Anti Tobacco Forum (ATF), Mysuru, has taken serious exception to the Centre’s recent decision to waive penalty on excess and illegally cultivated tobacco in Karnataka.Referring to the notification issued by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry dated February 17, 2025, that stated that circumstances have arisen rendering it necessary in the public interest to relax the restrictions imposed by the Tobacco Board Act 1975 for disposal of “excess flue cured virginia tobacco” of “registered growers and unregistered growers” at the authorized auction platforms of Tobacco Board in the State of Karnataka for crop season 2024-25, Mr ATF convenor Vasanthkumar Mysoremath, in a press statement here, has raised concerns over public health from the Centre’s decision.“What about public health?”, he questioned. In the previous years the restrictions used to be in place with the farmers cultivating excess or illegal tobacco being allowed to participate in auctions by paying a penalty.As tobacco was a controlled crop, Tobacco Board fixes an annual crop size for the State and fixes a quota for each barn for a grower possessing license to cultivate tobacco.“Now, these restrictions have been relaxed to open a Pandora’s box to grow excess tobacco by the license holders and also to allow unlicensed tobacco farmers to grow tobacco crop”, lamented Mr Mysoremath while pointing out that the relaxation would attract more and more food crop growers to shift to tobacco crop. “This will have a telling effect on the state’s food safety and security in future”, he warned.He wondered how the Government of India could consider it necessary in “public interest” to relax the restrictions imposed by the Tobacco Board on the illegally grown “killer” tobacco when one person is dying an unnatural death every seventh second due to diseases directly attributable to consumption of tobacco products.“These uncalled-for relaxations are not acceptable under any circumstances since prima facie they look like appeasement relaxations for sections of our society due to pressure from political class for their vote bank policies and tobacco growers’ associations….”While India earned accolades from world bodies by banning e-cigarettes, paradoxically, with these relaxations, it has proved that it is not sincere in its commitment to the international protocol of WHO/FCTC that provides for all signatories including India must help farmers to adopt alternate crops and reduce the cultivation of tobacco.The ATF has urged the Government of India to withdraw these relaxations and make stringent rules to ensure that in the interest of public health an annual reduction in area under tobacco cultivation, crop size and a ban on participation in annual auctions of excess and illegally grown tobacco.The ATF has also urged the Government to stop subsidies and strictly enforce the rules prescribed under COTPA. “With the adoption of parliament ratified FCTC protocol, the Tobacco Board has become a non-entity and therefore has to be wound up since it has failed to ensure one of its responsibilities of reduction of supply of killer tobacco…”, the ATF said.Published - February 22, 2025 01:18 pm IST