Modi for bigger pictorial warnings on tobacco products

Bengaluru/New Delhi, April 4: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has favoured bigger pictorial warnings on tobacco products and the health ministry intends to go ahead with 85 percent coverage of the principal display area on beedi, cigarette and chewable tobacco packets of, official sources said on Saturday. According to the sources, Modi had endorsed larger pictorial warnings on tobacco products and asked Health Minister J.P. Nadda to appoint a committee to look into the matter. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said at a press conference in Bengaluru that the government intends to discourage tobacco use. The finance minister distanced the Bharatiya Janata Party from the comments of party MP Dilip Gandhi that there was no evidence linking tobacco with cancer, and said: "In individual capacity, people can say anything. The government takes measured decisions." Gandhi is a member of the parliamentary committee on subordinate legislation on tobacco. "A multi-pronged approach will be taken to discourage the use of tobacco. Health Minister J.P. Nadda is here, he will decide," Jaitley said.