Pictorial health warning on packages of tobacco products will become bigger from April 1 next year. A notification to this effect issued by the Health Ministry yesterday, said, that all tobacco products would carry warnings covering 85 per cent of the package area, up from 40 per cent at present. This came a day before a hearing on this matter, which is scheduled to take place in the Rajasthan High Court today. The Rajasthan High Court had on September 9 ordered the Centre to ensure that larger pictorial warnings are carried on all tobacco products.
The increase in the size of pictorial warnings was to come into effect from April 1 this year but the deadline was extended by the government since the parliamentary committee was looking into the issue.