MAM
Stronger pictorial warnings in tobacco ads from 1 December
NEW DELHI: New strong pictorial warnings are to be put on cigarette and tobacco packets and in advertisements with effect from 1 December this year in a fresh effort to dissuade tobacco users from consuming tobacco products.
Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has cleared four pictures each of lung and oral cancer that will be used. The warnings will be rotated every two years from December this year.
A new notification issued on 27 May provides for strong pictorial warnings for smoking (cigarettes, bidis, cigars etc.) and smokeless or chewing forms of tobacco products.
The notification has been issued because feedback from different sectors showed that the existing health warnings were not strong and effective so as to influence tobacco users to quit the habit of tobacco use. As there is high prevalence of smokeless tobacco use in the country and the consumption is more among the lower socio-economic class with low levels of literacy, ‘it is hoped that strong pictorial warnings will definitely dissuade tobacco users from consuming tobacco products’.
The notification was issued by making amendments to the Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Packaging and Labelling) Rules, 2008.
The Principal rules were published on 15 March 2008 and subsequently amended on 29 September and on 28 November the same year, and again on 3 May 2009, 5 March 2010, 17 May 2010 and 20 December 2010.
The Government had enacted a comprehensive legislation to combat the menace of tobacco – Cigarettes and other tobacco products Regulation of (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, (COTPA) 2003 – which provided for a ban on smoking in public places, ban on sale of tobacco products to and by minors, prohibition of sale of tobacco products within 100 yards of educational institutions, ban on all advertisements of tobacco products, and providing for pictorial health warnings on packages of tobacco products.
After a long legal battle, the Rules relating to Section 7 of COTPA 2003 which mandated pictorial health warnings on tobacco products came into implementation on 31 May, 2009. As India has also ratified WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the Government is committed to implement guidelines and provisions under FCTC. Article 11 of WHO FCTC recommends pictorials health warnings as an effective strategy for reduction of demand of tobacco.
MAM
Dish TV shareholders approve three independent directors
99.49 per cent vote of confidence strengthens board as company expands into connected TV, e-commerce and OTT.
MUMBAI: Dish TV has just been served a near-perfect vote of confidence and the shareholders have dished it out in style. Shareholders of the DTH operator have approved the appointment of three new Independent Directors with an overwhelming 99.49 per cent approval. The three appointees are Mr Arun Kumar Kapoor, Ms Heena Naishadh Bhatt and Mr Ashok Anant Paranjpe.
The strong mandate reflects continued investor faith in the company’s strategy, disciplined execution and long-term value creation. It comes as Dish TV focuses on stabilising its core DTH business while actively scaling new verticals connected TV platform VZY, B2B e-commerce ShopZop, and OTT service Watcho to build a more diversified and resilient growth trajectory.
Dish TV India Limited, CEO & executive director Manoj Dhobhal said, “We are encouraged by the shareholders’ approval of the appointment of the Independent Directors and sincerely thank them for their continued trust and confidence. The Board is already benefiting from the Directors’ collective experience, which will further sharpen strategic focus and support disciplined execution.”
With a fresh, strengthened board in place, Dish TV is well positioned to navigate the evolving media landscape. In a sector where every percentage point matters, a 99.49 per cent thumbs-up is the kind of ringing endorsement that suggests the company’s recipe for the future is already tasting right.
