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Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) on Wednesday announced that passengers found consuming chewable tobacco-based products within metro premises and trains will be fined. For this, the BMRCL will strengthen its patrolling efforts during non-peak hours, it said. According to the BMRCL, this step has been taken in an effort to address public grievances about passengers using chewable tobacco-based products and to avoid consequent spitting and littering within metro premises and trains. Since possession of such substances cannot be detected through metal detectors, BMRCL said it has decided to implement random physical pat-down checks at all metro stations. "While platform security guards will be sensitised to look out for such passengers, the central security surveillance room has already been instructed to monitor passenger behaviour and alert the concerned platform security staff immediately upon noticing any violations. Enhanced surveillance will now be carried out on
The country's tobacco exports are likely to register an over 8 per cent growth and cross Rs 13,000 crore this year, a senior government official said on Wednesday. Additional Secretary in the Department of Commerce Rajesh Agrawal also said the Tobacco Board has taken a number of steps to help farmers increase their income. India is the second largest producer of tobacco in the world after China. It is also the fourth largest producer of Flue-Cured Virginia (FCV) tobacco in the world after China, Brazil and Zimbabwe. "India is the second largest exporter of unmanufactured tobacco (quantity terms) after Brazil. Tobacco exports contribute sizable foreign exchange to the Indian exchequer. This year, we are going to cross Rs 13,000 crore...Tobacco farmers income has also doubled over the last 5 years," Agrawal told reporters here. During 2023-24, the outbound shipments were Rs 12,005.89 crore (USD 1.5 billion). The Tobacco Board, under the department, has undertaken several strategic .
Tobacco use may lead to 10 million deaths per year across the world by 2030, National Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research (NICPR) Director Shalini Singh has said. She said the goal should be to provide every possible support to tobacco users in quitting and suggested increasing taxes on tobacco products to reduce their consumption in the country. "With the current pace of tobacco consumption, it has been estimated that about 10 million lives would be lost annually by 2030 and the use of tobacco would be the sole reason for it," Singh said in a statement. She said tobacco is not only burning a hole in the pocket of its users but it's also taking away their lives. Singh also suggested standardisation of smokeless tobacco products, banning sale of tobacco products in loose, and a stringent regulatory mechanism to control surrogate advertisements of smokeless tobacco products as necessary measures to reduce their consumption in the country.