Tobacco board withdraws from networking event

BANGALORE: Following the order of Karnataka High Court, the Tobacco Board of India has withdrawn its sponsorship from Global Tobacco Networking Forum that started in the city on Monday.

Citybased activists, under the leadership of the Institute of Public Health (IPH), had filed a public interest litigation in the court, seeking direction to the government body to withdraw from the event.

The fourday forum, which started in Bangalore on Monday, is a platform for top tobacco manufacturers to discuss how to promote tobacco.

According to the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control - of which India is a signatory - a government body cannot sponsor a protobacco event.

The Tobacco Board of India is a government entity under the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.

It decided to sponsor the event but the high court stopped it from doing so.

Dr Upendra Bhojani, who had filed the public interest litigation, said the court's verdict was a great victory for all who had been campaigning against the government's participation in the forum.

Bhojani said the IPH was looking at challenging the mandate of the tobacco board in sponsoring such events in the future.