Two Hundred and Eighty-fifth Report on Effects of Tobacco Curing on Environment and Health: Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science & Technology, Environment & Forests
Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science & Technology, Environment & Forests, present this Two Hundred and Eighty-fifth Report on “Effects of Tobacco Curing on Environment and Health”. The Committee finds that financial benefits that accrue in various forms on account of tobacco are negligible compared to losses suffered in terms of deaths of people and the expenditure incurred by the Government on treatment of tobacco related problems of people. Besides financial burden on the exchequer, its social cost/effect on society in terms of expenditure on treatment on tobacco related diseases and loss of lives, is enormous. The Committee, therefore, recommends that the cultivation of tobacco needs to be discouraged by providing incentives for shifting to other crops and disincentivizing production of tobacco gradually but definitively. The Committee also recommends that to discourage consumption of tobacco in any form, effective awareness campaigns need to be launched.