The Jharkhand chapter of the Federation of Retailer Associations of India demanded withdrawal of the state government’s order mandating licence for retailers selling tobacco products from April 1.

“We have already written to chief minister Hemant Soren requesting him to roll back the order,” informed Vijay Kumar, FRAI member and secretary of the state's Paan Tambaku Vikreta Sangh, adding they also staged demonstrations to protest against the order in some towns of the state, including capital Ranchi, on Wednesday.

They would wait for a favourable decision by the state government for some more time before deciding on their next course of action, he further informed.

The order they mentioned was issued under the signature of the state urban development secretary Vinay Kumar Chaubey on December 1 that made it mandatory for all shopkeepers selling tobacco products from April 1 this year to obtain license from the concerned urban local bodies.

Though there were laws restricting such sale without license it was often found to be ignored by many shopkeepers, the order mentioned, reminding 50.1 per cent of population of Jharkhand — 63.6 percent men and 35.9 per cent women — consumed tobacco in some form or the other.

“The order would affect livelihood of over one lakh etailers or 5 lakh people including their dependents,” Kumar argued, adding the poor shopkeepers already suffered economically due to the pandemic and would find it difficult to obtain licences by paying fees.

“The order also said those shopkeepers could sell only tobacco products after obtaining licences,” he pointed out, adding that would mean they could not augment their meagre income by selling biscuits, soft drinks and mineral water that they normally do. But all are not willing to buy Kumar’s arguments.

“We strongly advocate for vendor licensing system as that would help protect the future of the youth and minor,” said Deepak Mishra, executive director of the Social Economic and Educational Development Society, technical support partner of Jharkhand government on tobacco control programme.

The global youth tobacco survey conducted in 2019 had revealed that 5.1 per cent of the students surveyed in Jharkhand used some tobacco products, he informed.

“Sixty per cent of cigarette smokers and 46 per cent of bidi smokers bought those from small paan shops or vendors,” Mishra further said, justifying why they advocated vendor licensing.