Keep tobacco, alcohol ads and their proxies off IPL: Health Ministry tells Cricket Board

In a letter to the Indian Premier League Chairman Arun Singh Dhumal, Director General of Health Services Atul Goel has urged to ban all tobacco and alcohol advertising during matches, related events and on national TV broadcasts.

The letter dated March 5, also addressed these concerns to the Board of Control for Cricket in India, and sought the sports bodies to discourage sportspersons from endorsing alcohol or tobacco-related products, directly or indirectly.

Goel also urged to do away with the sale of tobacco and alcohol products in all affiliated events.

It was further mentioned that India is experiencing a significant burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) which account for more than 70% of deaths annually. "Tobacco and alcohol use are key risk factors for NCDs. We rank second in tobacco-related deaths worldwide, with nearly 14 lakh annual deaths, while alcohol is the most common psychoactive substance used by Indians," Goel noted.

The letter reportedly also mentioned that since cricket players are role models for youngsters and IPL being the largest sports platform in the country, it has a social and moral obligation to promote public health and support government initiatives.

Last year, Centre introduced new draft regulations to enforce stricter anti-tobacco messaging on online curated content (OCC) platforms also. This includes video-on-demand services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. In a move to intensify its anti-tobacco campaign, the government has said that the proposed rules will require OCC platforms to include non-skippable anti-tobacco health spots, lasting a minimum of 30 seconds, at the beginning and midway through any content that features tobacco use.