India Made Positive Progress In Restricting Interference Of Tobacco Industry

India made some progress in the Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index 2020 by scoring 8 less at 61/100 from last year. 

Lower the score, lower is the interference of tobacco industry in the governance of a country.

But…!

The index listed a number of examples where tobacco industry officials and Indian government officials have interacted.

It also flagged the financial benefits that the tobacco industry enjoys in India, such as exemptions on cess and goods sales tax on bidis.

However, it has taken the government a full decade to come up with a five-page code of conduct for government officials to prevent tobacco industry interference in public health policies. But the code comes with a built-in limitation: it is only applicable to health ministry officials despite the fact that the influence of the tobacco industry in public policy is far more widespread.

Read the full report by Scroll.in.