Sacks
of unread letters hold up India's fight against tobacco
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[August 19, 2015]
By Aditya Kalra
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Bulging sacks of
letters gathering dust at India's health ministry are the latest
obstacle to a push for tougher laws to curb smoking, as more than
100,000 unread messages from members of the public overwhelm officials
and stall legislation.
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With tobacco linked to up to 900,000 deaths a year in India, the
government wants to raise the minimum smoking age to 21 from 18, and
ban the sale of single cigarettes, which make up 70 percent of
overall sales.
Before taking its proposals to parliament, the government in January
asked for public suggestions.
The result was unprecedented: 45,000 e-mails and more than 100,000
letters delivered by mail, in white and brown sacks stacked up in
the health ministry, beside the desks of officials working on
computers.
Analysing and collating public responses is crucial for the
legislative process to move forward. The sheer volume has left
officials stumped, with some fearing that it could take as much as
five months to sift through the letters.
Some health officials suspect the letter-writing campaign was
orchestrated by the tobacco industry to hold up the process.
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"It appears to be an organized campaign as a lot of letters were
photocopied and sent in same-colored envelopes from one town or
village," said a health ministry official, who sought anonymity as
he is not authorized to speak to the media.
While there is no evidence to back up such suspicions, there are
signs of an organized letter-writing campaign.
At least one pack of letters seen by Reuters consisted of dozens of
the same printed objections signed by different people. Several
protest e-mails came from employees of India's largest cigarette
maker, ITC Ltd..
A company spokesman said ITC did not ask employees to send letters.
Sameer Shaikh, a sales executive with ITC, said he and his wife
wrote in, fearing job cuts.
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"People will lose jobs because of these laws," said Shaikh's wife,
Shiren.
The government says it is keen to cut tobacco consumption, but
health activists say a strong tobacco lobby is pressuring it to go
slow.
Industry body the Tobacco Institute of India declined to comment.
"New tobacco laws are the need of the hour and need effective
enforcement," said Monika Arora of the Framework Convention Alliance
for Tobacco Control.
The government has vowed to read all the public suggestions.
"Given the number, it is likely to take some time," said C.K. Mishra,
an additional secretary at the health ministry, but he did not
estimate how long.
(Editing by Frank Jack Daniel; and Clarence Fernandez)
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