India has already implemented 85 per cent pictorial warning on tobacco products.
India will push for incorporating smokeless tobacco as an agenda of a crucial global tobacco control conference which it would host for the first time next week, an event which Pakistan is unlikely to attend.
India is all set to host the Seventh Session of the Conference of Parties (COP7) to World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) during November 7-12, 2016 at Greater Noida which will be inaugurated by Union Health Minister JP Nadda.
Since there is a large number of people in India who are increasingly opting for smokeless form of tobacco, India's effort will be to put it on the agenda of FCTC, a top Health Ministry official said today.
"India has taken significant steps to implement decisions of previous COP sessions. As per the decisions taken during the Sixth Session of COP6, the government has set up a global knowledge hub on smokeless tobacco at National Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research (NICPR) which serves as a repository of knowledge related to smokeless tobacco," the Ministry said.
"This is a very critical and important event that will give us an opportunity to showcase what we have done and learn from other countries," said Health secretary CK Mishra.
Asked whether Pakistan is going to attend the event, Guangyuan Liu, team leader, governance and international cooperation at FCTC secretariat, said it has not registered yet although the process of registration is still on.
Although India has already implemented 85 per cent pictorial warning on tobacco products, the issue of plain packaging, that refers to packaging that requires the removal of all branding, "will still be on the mind" during the deliberations at the Conference, the official said.
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena will address the conference which will lead into Delhi Declaration for supporting measures for tobacco control.
Around 1,500 delegates are expected to participate in the conference from around 180 countries along with other observers in official relations with the WHO FCTC Secretariat in Geneva.
India provided a leadership role in the negotiations of FCTC and was also the regional coordinator for the South-East Asia Region. India ratified the treaty on February 27, 2005 and is obligated to comply with the treaty provisions and its guidelines to reduce tobacco consumption globally.