Indian government has taken tough call on the tobacco consumption and made it mandatory for tobacco companies to allot 85 per cent space on packets of cigarettes and other tobacco products to warnings. Along with this, the government has issued several guidelines and all of them will come effective from April 1, 2015. With this new rule, India will join Thailand where the cigarettes packs are covered almost covered with warnings.

For packages containing smoking forms of tobacco, the pictorial warnings would be of throat cancer, and for chewable tobacco products, they would be of mouth cancer. The notification of the government  said the health warnings shall be expressed in English or any Indian language which should be understandable to the one who consumes it.

Currently, tobacco companies allot 40 per cent to the warnings on the packs.

(AW: Vamshi)