Anti-tobacco campaigners in India have started persuading the government to make it mandatory for using plain packaging for cigarettes, similar to that of Australia.
The move is expected to reduce the number of smokers in the country and follows an Australian study, according to which plain packaging will make smokers think about giving it up.
Indian government has already made it mandatory for tobacco packs to display health warnings, which are considered to be weak by the health advocates.
India is said to be the second largest nation in the world to produce tobacco, and one third of its population totaling about 400 million people consume tobacco.
Each year, about one million Indians are believed to die from cancer which is caused by smoking and chewing tobacco.
