Since the time the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) was ratified by India in 2004 and the pathbreaking Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) was enacted, the tobacco industry in India was kept on the backfoot.

Gro Harlem Brundtland, the then Director General of World Health Organisation has done yeomen service to humanity by piloting the pathbreaking FCTC, which was approved and ratified in record time by a large number of countries, including India.

Follow up measures adopted in India have also been exemplary. The law was enacted quickly and rules promulgated for its enforcement. Smoking in public places was banned, so were tobacco advertisements. Parallelly, several states have imposed ban on manufacture and sale of gutka , the chewing tobacco, which is the principal cause of mouth and oesophagus cancer, especially among children.

But the tobacco empire has now started striking back. The proposal for increasing the space for health messages has hit a roadblock with the Parliamentary Committee on subordinate legislation choosing to go back to fundamentals. Some of its members want proof that tobacco causes cancer! They are asking for evidence from Indian research when overwhelming evidence is already available from Indian sources.

We have earlier noticed that any strong political initiative taken at the policy-making level is always met with resistance by the tobacco lobby by projecting it as a farmers’ and workers’ problem. This emotional blackmail has so far worked with political leaders backtracking on important decisions at the last moment. We are, again, seeing the same scenario repeating itself.

The present Government is in the best position to take the matter seriously and turn the tide of growing tobacco use and incidence of cancer in the country.

The Prime Minister has given clear messages for fighting tobacco use and cancer in the country. On World No Tobacco Day 2014, the Prime Minister had tweeted, “On this day, let us pledge to spread awareness on the risks of tobacco consumption & work to reduce tobacco consumption in India,” and “By saying ‘no’ to tobacco, let us lay the foundation of a healthier India”. The Government has the required legislative strength to enact difficult agendas like tobacco control. There is also general consensus among political parties about the harmful effects of tobacco. This is, therefore, the right time for affirmative action to control the scourge of tobacco use and cancer in the country.

Half-hearted measures will not solve the problem because of backlash from vested interests. The Government needs to take decisive steps to de-incentivise tobacco industry at all levels: farming, manufacture and sale of tobacco and its products. The Tobacco Board which is an anachronism after enactment of the Tobacco legislation should be abolished.

Government and public sector banks should withdraw all the stock they are holding, if any, in tobacco firms. A tobacco free India should become a national movement on the lines of the Swacch Bharat Abhiyan with participation of civil society activists, experts and physicians. Only such strong and determined action can lead the country to achievement of the goals set by the FCTC to protect present and future generations from the devastating health, social, environmental and economic consequences of tobacco consumption and exposure to tobacco smoke.

The writer is former Health Secretary, Government of India. The views expressed are personal

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