Widows of tobacco users have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on the occasion of World No Tobacco Day (May 31), asking him “how many more widows and orphans will you allow the tobacco industry to make before India says enough?”
The women highlighted the fact that “despite several States banning chewing-tobacco, there is only one State where gutka is manufactured — Gujarat.”
In their letter, the women have noted that “gutka is smuggled from Gujarat to all other States of India, in violation of the bans.”
“Our late husbands have contributed considerable amounts to your government’s massive tax income from the tobacco industries, and also to the profits of the Life Insurance Corporation, financial institutions, mutual funds etc, who hold about 35 per cent shares in ITC and other tobacco companies. We beg to introduce ourselves and describe the ordeal that the tobacco industry has put us and our families through,” noted the women — including Alka Pandey, Kaumudhi Chaturvedi, Niku Sidhu and Sumitra Pednekar.
Ms. Pandey said: “We lived together for only 12 years before my husband expired at the age of 40. He used to chew tobacco in his workplace, and became more and more addicted to it day by day.”
Penning her ordeal Niku Sidhu said that her husband passed away after a prolonged battle with cancer.
“I am yet to come to terms with the death of my husband at the age of 48. We were married for 14 years. Throughout, we lived a healthy diet-controlled, exercise-inclusive lifestyle. Rahul was a gym-goer for years. The only hitch was he had chewed tobacco for a couple of years in the 1990s. This old habit, which he had dumped, sneaked up in 2012 and ravaged his health at the peak of his career.”
The women have now appealed stating that though they are only five among the lakh of Indian widows that the tobacco industry has made the PM should pay urgent attention to their plight.
Despite several States banning chewing-tobacco, there is only one State where gutka is manufactured — Gujarat”
