2 MPs oppose increasing pictorial warnings on cigarette packets

Two Lok Sabha members on Wednesday opposed expanding the size of pictorial warning on tobacco products, saying it had adversely affected farmers and beedi workers and their livelihood was in danger. 

Sharad Bansode (BJP) and R Dhruvanarayana (Congress) suggested that a parliamentary committee’s recommendation that the warning be restricted to 50 per cent should be adhered to, prompting an intervention from Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu who noted that public opinion was growing in favour of discouraging smoking.

Raising the issue in the Zero Hour, Bansode claimed that if “you don’t minimise (the warnig size), all beedi workers would be jobless”. He also urged the PM to address their concerns. Dhruvanarayana said the parliamentary committee’s recommendation was not implemented by the government, which increased the warning’s size from 40 to 85 per cent. Some members, including Supriya Sule (NCP), were seen nodding their head in disapproval as the members spoke.