PM Modi asks Health Ministry to put larger pictorial warnings on tobacco products

After being slammed from all quarters, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday asked Health Ministry to increase the size of pictorial warnings on tobacco product packets to 60%.

The announcement came when BJP MPs, including those on Parliamentary panel, had created controversy on the use of tobacco.

BJP MP Dilip Gandhi, Shyama Charan Gupta and Ram Prasad Sarmah stirred a controversy when they said there was no Indian study to confirm that use of tobacco leads to cancer. Shyama Charan Gupta had also said that there was a global conspiracy to kill India's beedi industry.

BJP government in the centre has distanced itself from all these remarks. Health minister JP Nadda said that government will stand firm on reducing consumption of tobacco.

The governement had deferred the April 1 deadline for implementation of pictorial warnings.