Noting that bidi was a poor man's smoke, a CPI-M leader today expressed concern over the plight of one crore workers due to the closure of all beedi manufacturing units after the government's directive on pictorial health warning covering 85 per cent of all tobacco packs.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour in Rajya Sabha, Tapan Kumar Sen said the issue needed to be looked into with human concern as it affected the livelihood of the poor working in these units.
"For the last ten days, all beedi manufacturing companies have closed down production in protest against Health Ministry's directive to increase pictorial warning on tobacco packets from 40 to 85 percent.
"More than one crore bidi workers are losing earning as it is linked to piece-rate production," Sen said and asked the government to call the manufacturers and get their factories reopened.
Noting that the most backward and underprivileged sections were involved in the job, Sen said one crore bidi workers and five crore other dependants on the trade for their livelihood cannot be left in lurch.
Insisting that "Bidi is a poor man's smoke," Sen said there were "human concerns" apart from scientific concerns and health issues that need to be taken note of in this case.
Holding that the size of the pictorial warning was alright for cigarette packs, Sen said it was not right for bidi packs which were smaller in size.
The new picture health warning, covering 85 per cent of all tobacco packs, was notified in October 2014 for implemention from April 1, 2015. However, the government delayed its implementation indefinitely, after a parliamentary committee directed the Health Ministry to keep the notification in abeyance.
The Rajasthan High Court had in September 2015 directed the Union Health Ministry to take immediate steps for the implementation of pictorial warnings from April 1, 2016, and said there should be no more delay in implementing it.
The Ministry has now issued a public notice informing all tobacco product manufacturers, distributors and retailers that it has notified the new pictorial health warnings for mandatory display of new specified health warnings on all tobacco product packages.
In December last year, Karnataka High Court had granted interim stay on the notification after the Karnataka Beedi Industry Association had approached it seeking its quashing on the grounds that the pictorial warnings cannot be introduced on beedi packets.
