The union health ministry would revisit orders relating to printing of statutory warning on bidi (tendu leaf) bundles as well as the size and space it should occupy.

The union health minister, Dr Ambumani Ramadoss, has assured the Andhra Pradesh (AP) chief minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, of this move, in response to the latter's suggestions. Considering the typical nature of the bidi industry separate rules should be framed. "I suggest that a pictorial/skull and bone statutory warning should not be made applicable for the bidi industry. Similarly, the statutory warning on a strip of say 1 to 4 cm can appear on the bidi bundle," he said in a letter, copies of which were made available to the media.
The union health ministry wants a prominent display of the warning covering 50 per cent of the bidi pack. The notification on the bidi industry would be mandatory from 1 February.
In Andhra Pradesh, the bidi industry is a major source of employment, especially in the rural and backward areas. With over 800,000 bidi workers engaged in the manufacturing and processing, the notification would impact their livelihoods badly, the chief minister said. The state also has vast forest tracts, where hundreds of thousands of tribals are seasonally employed for plucking and processing of tendu leaves, which is a major raw material for the manufacture of bidis. (sra)