Click to play videoNew Delhi: Smoking kills and you will now see exactly how. The government has finally given the go-ahead to implement graphic pictorial warnings on cigarette and beedi packets ending the long-drawn debate on its feasibility.
The existing statutory warning in India serves no purpose, given a large percentage of people are illiterate.
The pictorial warnings, to be implemented in two phases, would either be a scorpion or lungs.
The total coverage area for the picture would be 30 to 40 per cent of the pack size
The implementation will take place in two phases. The first this year and the second phase will be decided after assessing the results of the first year campaign.
Nearly 2,500 Indians die of smoking every day and NGOs have been lobbying hard for the implementation of the pictorial warning.
The Health Ministry had earlier approved grisly real-life pictures including one showing a child dying due to effects of smoking and another of mouth cancer.
But the Information and Broadcasting Ministry had suggested pictures that are less harsh.
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