In 2016, when the State government went on to ban sale and use of e-cigarettes and flavoured chewing tobacco, the tobacco industry made consistent efforts to reach out to the State government in an attempt to get the ban revoked.
Prior to that in 2013, when the government started discussions on gutka ban and hike in tobacco taxes, the tobacco industry made regular attempts to be part of official meetings unofficially.
In fact, there has been a track record of the industry engaging regularly with the government by arranging cricket matches for bureaucrats and officials and hosting them in hotels. But now, any attempts by representatives of the industry or its affiliates to meet the Health Department officials will first have to be approved by the Health Commissioner.
This follows an initiative taken by the State Tobacco Control Cell (STCC) in enacting and notifying the implementation of Article 5.3 of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in the State. As per this protocol, the tobacco industry (representatives) cannot interact with any government official either at State or district level on any public health aspect.
“If they have to interact, it has to be a prior scheduled meeting and with proper transparent proceedings. And, industry representatives who need to meet officials have to write to the empowered FCTC State Protocol committee designated officer (Health Commissioner) with meeting agenda points,” M. Selvarajan, Deputy Director (Medical), who is also the programme officer for STCC, told The Hindu on Monday.
According to the notification issued in January, a 12-member committee headed by the Principal Secretary (Health) or his representative Commissioner (Health) has been set up exclusively to implement Article 5.3.
“There is a provision for levying administrative penalties on those who violate the protocol. A similar legislation is in place in Punjab, Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Chandigarh, Bihar, and Tamil Nadu,” he said.
India is one of the early signatories of the FCTC as a part of which many legislations have been passed in the country and effectively implemented. The FCTC also mandates that the government at the national, State and district level should restrict access of tobacco industry in terms of pubic health aspects.
Commending the move, U.S. Vishal Rao, member of the high-powered committee on Tobacco Control, said compliance to Article 5.3 is an extremely important commitment taken by signatory parties to prevent tobacco industry interference in policies.
“The State Tobacco Control Cell has taken a significant step and set as trail blazer, an initiative which has not been actively implemented in many States. This is a step all other States should emulate as conviction to honour the international public health treaty signed by India for tobacco control,” he said.