Health Groups, Unions Oppose India Tobacco Privatization (fwd)

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

Rediff on the Net
 September 8, 1998 

                  Anti-cigarette body to protest against FDI in
                  India

                  Sandesh Prabhudesai in Panaji 

                  The Bharatiya Janata Party's decision to allow cent per
cent foreign direct
                  investment in tobacco industry in India has been condemned
by the
                  National Organisation for Tobacco Eradication. 

                  NOTE has also demanded immediate revocation of two more
decisions. 

                  In a letter written to Prime Minister Atal Bihari
Vajpayee, NOTE chairman
                  Dr Sharad Vaidya describes BJP's tobacco promotion policy as
                  paradoxical to the party's health improvement programme,
and as against
                  the World Health Organisation guidelines. 

                  The industry ministry has come under fire for clearing a
proposal to allow
                  Indian Tobacco Corporation to triple the capacity of its
Kidderpore plant
                  in Calcutta from 4.8 billion to 12.25 billion cigarettes. 

                  Similarly, the government has allowed cent per cent FDI in
India for the
                  UK-based Rothmans of Pall Mall International and to set up
a new, $ 150
                  million plant. "Tobacco, whether swadeshi or videshi, is
equally
                  poisonous," states Dr Vaidya. 

                  He has also brought to Vajpayee's notice the WHO figures,
as per which
                  one person dies every 40 seconds in India due to tobacco
consumption. It
                  piles up to 2,200 deaths per day and over 800,000 deaths
per year, while
                  the tobacco is used by 200 million men and 45 million women. 

                  Even the tobacco-related diseases in the country, Dr
Vaidya quotes,
                  include 400,000 cancer cases, 1.3 million cases of
coronary artery disease
                  and seven million cases of chronic obstructive lung
diseases. Over 60 per
                  cent of heart patients below 40 years are smokers, he adds. 

                  With this rate, states Dr Vaidya, around 10 million people
are expected to
                  die of tobacco-related diseases every year by 2020 in the
developing
                  countries. One third of it would be in India alone, he
observes, while
                  reiterating the need to discourage tobacco consumption in
the country. 

                  NOTE plans a year-long programme of anti-tobacco educational
                  campaign for South-East Asian countries beginning May 31,
1999. One
                  such pilot programme has already been launched in Pune on
August 14
                  while Goa would launch it on October 11. It would be then
also launched
                  in Bangalore and Indore. 
Foreign 

The Daily News (Sri Lanka)
09, September 1998



Indian unions urge PM to keep out foreign cigarette firms

NEW DELHI, Sept 8 (AFP) - Indian trade unions have appealed to Prime
Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to freeze a
decision allowing foreign cigarette makers to set up fully-owned
subsidiaries in the country. 

In a letter published in Indian newspapers Tuesday, four central trade
unions said the decision spelled disaster for the
domestic tobacco industry, especially manufacturers of "bidis" -- cheap
Indian-made cigarettes wrapped in tobacco leaf. 

"The livelihood of millions of people dependent on the bidi industry and the
unfettered entry of cigarette-producing
transnationals will lead to the speedy extinction of the bidi industry and
further increase unemployment," the letter said. 

India's industry ministry announced on August 27 that overseas firms would
be allowed to set up subsidiaries in India with
100 percent foreign equity. 

Foreign manufacturers had previously been allowed to enter India only
through joint ventures with domestic companies and
had to meet export targets set by the government. 

The unions' letter implicitly accused the ministry of rushing through its
decision in order to allow approval of a proposal by
Britain's Rothmans International plc to establish a wholly-owned subsidiary
here. 

"The abrupt reversal of the policy gives room for suspicion that the move is
to favour one particular multi-national company,"
it said. 

The unions urged Vajpayee to shelve the new policy and requested a special
labour ministry investigation into its potential
impact on employment in the Indian tobacco industry. 

US-based Philip Morris Cos Inc., British American Tobacco and R.J. Reynolds
are the only three foreign companies with a
base in India at present. 

India's cigarette market is currently worth around 70 billion rupees (1.7
billion dollars), with an annual growth rate of between
eight and nine percent.