I&B Ministry
Despite industry’s closure threats, govt. implements 85 per cent pictorial warning on tobacco packets
New Delhi: Close on the heels of imposing stringent punishments to vendors of tobacco products in the vicinity of educational institutions in January and raising the tax in the budget in February, the Government has implemented its decision asking manufacturers to use 85 per cent space on tobacco packets on health warnings. The decision has come into effect from this month. An affidavit filed by the Health Ministry before the Rajasthan High Court on 28 March said the warning would appear on both sides of tobacco products and come into force from 1 April.
This follows a decision taken in September last year, after an earlier order for implementation from April 2015 was stayed in June by the Government to allow a parliamentary committee to study the issue further. The Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Product (Prohibition of Advertisement & Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act also prohibits the sale of cigarettes or other tobacco products to people below 18 years and in areas within a 100- metre radius of educational institutions.
The Government nailed its latest decision by informing the Rajasthan High Court earlier this week to stick to its decision of 85 per cent pictorial warnings on every packet, thus forcing major tobacco companies to consider shutting shop in India. Interestingly, the Government has bypassed the advice of the Parliamentary Committee which recommended only 40 per cent pictorial warning. Until now, the coverage was forty per cent.
The Tobacco Institute of India said a unanimous ‘closure’ decision was made by the players in the industry in response to the ‘ambiguity’ in the centre’s policy on pictorial warnings on tobacco product packs. Prominent members of the TII including ITC, Godfrey Phillips and VST have already announced their decision in this regard. ITC is already understood to have shut down five of its units. ITC, Godfrey Phillips and VST reportedly account for over 98 per cent of domestic cigarette sales, along with other members of the Institute.
TII in a press release estimated a daily loss of Rs 350 crore in revenue for the tobacco industry from the production stoppage. It asserted that the revised pictorial warning would promote the trade in illegal cigarettes and affect the livelihood of 45.7 million (4.57 crore) people dependent on the industry.
The Indian tobacco industry had in mid-March written to the Health Ministry seeking clarification but did not get any reply, leading to the decision for closure ‘fearing, potential violation of rules by continuing production.’
TII has claimed that illegal cigarettes account for one-fifth of the industry, resulting in an annual revenue loss of Rs 9,000 crore to the exchequer. It even blamed ‘foreign-funded anti tobacco activists’ and ‘vested interests’ for pushing such a policy.
In fact, many of the tobacco majors in the country have already made inroads in other sectors like hotels, FMCG etc.
I&B Ministry
Government sets up AI governance group to steer policy
AIGEG to align ministries, assess jobs impact, guide AI deployment.
MUMBAI: If artificial intelligence is the engine, the government is now building the dashboard and making sure everyone reads from the same screen. The Centre has constituted a new inter-ministerial body to coordinate India’s approach to AI, formalising a key recommendation from its governance framework and the Economic Survey. The AI Governance and Economic Group (AIGEG), set up by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, will act as the central platform to align AI-related policy across ministries, regulators and departments, an attempt to bring coherence to what has so far been a fragmented and fast-evolving landscape.
The group will be chaired by union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, with minister of state Jitin Prasada as vice chairperson. Its composition reflects both technological and economic priorities, bringing together the principal scientific adviser, the chief economic adviser, and the CEO of NITI Aayog, alongside key secretaries from telecommunications, economic affairs and science and technology. A representative from the National Security Council Secretariat is also part of the group, while the MeitY secretary will serve as member convenor.
At its core, AIGEG is designed to do two things: coordinate and anticipate. On the policy front, it will review existing regulatory mechanisms, issue guidance across sectors and ensure companies remain compliant with evolving legal frameworks. Beyond that, it will oversee national initiatives on AI governance, with a focus on enabling responsible innovation rather than merely regulating it.
The economic dimension is equally central. The group has been tasked with assessing how AI-driven automation could reshape jobs identifying which roles are most at risk, where those impacts may be geographically concentrated, and whether technology will augment or replace human labour. Based on these assessments, it will develop mitigation strategies and transition plans, signalling a more proactive stance on workforce disruption.
In parallel, AIGEG will work with industry stakeholders to chart a long-term roadmap for AI adoption, categorising use cases into “deploy”, “pilot” or “defer” buckets depending on readiness factors such as data availability, skill levels and regulatory clarity. The aim is to move from broad ambition to structured execution deciding not just what can be built, but what should be built now.
The group will function as the apex layer in India’s AI governance architecture, supported by a Technology and Policy Expert Committee that will track global developments, emerging risks and regulatory priorities. Together, the two bodies are expected to shape both the pace and direction of AI adoption in the country.
In a landscape where technology often outruns policy, the creation of AIGEG signals an attempt to close that gap ensuring that India’s AI journey is not just rapid, but also coordinated, accountable and economically grounded.
