India
It has been a year (June 2015) since the Karnataka High Court directed the government to consider and finalize methodologies for reducing subsidies to tobacco farmers, but both the central and state governments have failed to come out with an action plan and the government still continues to provide both subsidies and incentives to tobacco farmers and growers.
The Centre for Law and Policy Research, which assisted in filing the PIL in the Karnataka High Court, has taken the lead for a public consultation and finalized a policy brief to help the government and other stakeholders to proceed with formulation of guidelines for reducing subsidies to tobacco growers. This policy brief is expected to be submitted to the government shortly.
Experts say the government, being a signatory to Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), cannot promote and should, in fact, discourage both cultivation and use of tobacco. With Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh being major producers of tobacco in the country, the respective governments should have taken the lead and come out with a policy statement at least after the court order.
Contrary to this, the production of flue-cured Virginia (FCV) tobacco in Karnataka has actually increased in the last few years from 93.86 million kg in 2012-13 to 103.5 million kg in 2014-15.
Meanwhile, the Anti-Tobacco Forum, which has been been active in tobacco control for the past 15 years, has visited many villages, interacted with tobacco farmers, and convinced them to give up growing tobacco.
The subsidies and incentives provided by the Tobacco Board for farmers growing FCV include supply of inputs, farming mechanisms, fertilizers, and equipment for improving yield and quality of tobacco, improving of curing practices, and extension program. Under the concept of good agricultural processes, it also extends subsidies of certain inputs to farmers in lands identified as model project areas.