Action Plan to Stop Smoking Menace
The Government has taken measures including, inter alia, the following to curb smoking:
I. Enactment of the “Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, (COTPA) 2003”.
II. Ratification of WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
III. Launch of the National Tobacco Control Programme (NTCP) in the year 2007-08, with the objectives to (a) create awareness about the harmful effects of tobacco consumption, (b) reduce the production and supply of tobacco products, (c) ensure effective implementation of the anti-tobacco laws and (d) help the people quit tobacco use through Tobacco Cessation Centres.
IV. Notification of rules to ban smoking in public places.
V. Notification of rules to regulate depiction of tobacco products or their use in films and TV programmes.
VI. Notification of rules on new pictorial health warnings on tobacco product packages.
VII. Launch of public awareness campaigns through a variety of media.
The Health Minister, Shri J P Nadda stated this in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha here today.