NEW DELHI: The Federation of All India Farmer Associations (FAIFA) has appealed to the government to shun the legacy of tobacco control policies aping the Western world and adopt policies that are rooted in the tobacco consumption patterns of India. The farmers’ body, which represents farmers as well as farm workers of commercial crops, urged the government to address the financial distress faced by the tobacco growers due to Covid-19 and that the ‘vocal for local’ campaign should be applicable for tobacco control policies in the country.
The Federation has asked the government to “reduce cigarette taxes to pre-GST levels so the market share of smuggled foreign brands can reduce and Indian industry and farmers can benefit in line with the vocal-for-local vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”
It has appealed to the government not to take policy decisions that increases instability and adversely impacts the livelihood of the Indian cigarette tobacco farmers while promoting foreign smuggled tobacco brands. Over 120 million kilograms of cigarette tobacco worth around Rs 2,000 crore remain unsold in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, it added. Furthermore, there has been more than Rs 5,000 crore loss to the cigarette tobacco farming community over the past six years, it said.
FAIFA pointed out that cigarettes were the smallest component of tobacco consumption in India, constituting just 9 per cent. “However, it is facing the brunt of the most draconian and stringent regulations in the world,” it said.