The Union minister for health and family welfare, Anbumani Ramadoss confirmed that all tobacco products are to carry statutory warnings including pictures on their packs.

The Union health ministry has issued the final notification, which requires that 40 per cent of packaging space on tobacco packs will have to carry the warnings. The notification says the pictorial warnings will be changed every 12 months.
The revised rules make it mandatory that all smoking tobacco products carry an image of lungs affected by smoking and an X-ray plate while non-smoking tobacco products will have to carry a scorpion to suggest a link to cancer.
If passed, the amendment will also put more responsibility on building owners and institutions to curb smoking on the premises, with the failure to do so resulting in fines of over INR 5,000 (USD 125) for each smoker.
No tobacco product is exempted from the pictorial warnings though the decision regarding the date of implementation of the revised rules in this regard is still pending as the matter is sub judice. Ramadoss said that the Shimla High Court would decide on the contempt petition on March 24, following which a date for the implementation of the rules would be decided. (pi)