Political Economy of Tobacco Control

This is a research study aimed at understanding the role of the State and industry in tobacco control in post-1990s India. The research objectives are to (1) map public policies related to tobacco in this time period; (2) understand associations between policies and tobacco markets; (3) understand state and industry response to tobacco control policies; and (4) identifying regulatory scenarios that lead to significant reduction in tobacco use prevalence. It is a mixed-methods study that analyses a historical period through a range of techniques including interviews, documentary analysis, historiography, case studies.
This study is supported by the India Alliance mid-career clinical and public health fellowship awarded to Upendra Bhojani
Cluster updates
Paper on food laws to ban smokeless tobacco products in India
(BMJ) Tobacco Control recently published a paper by Dr. Upendra Bhojani and Riddhi Dsouza from the DEEP project at the Institute of Public Health, Bengaluru. The paper analysed how several states in India used food laws to ban certain smokeless tobacco products...
Anusthana’s protocol paper published in BMJ
Dr. Pragati Hebbar together with Vivek Dsouza, Upendra Bhojani, Onno CP van Schayck, Dr. Giridhara Babu, and Gera Nagelhout co-authored a protocol paper titled “Implementation research for taking tobacco control policies to scale in India: a realist evaluation study...
Evaluation of a school-based tobacco/supari cessation program
Dr. Upendra Bhojani, co-authored a paper in Population Medicine journal, along with Dr. Pragati Hebbar and Amiti Varma from the Chronic Conditions and Public Policies cluster at IPH-Bengaluru. The paper evaluated a school-based tobacco/supari cessation intervention...
Workshop on Preventing TII (Chhattisgarh & Manipur)
In two separate workshops held in December last year, Dr. Upendra Bhojani (Director, IPH-Bengaluru) was invited to serve as a resource person (virtual) on Tobacco Industry Interference (TII). The workshops were held in Chhattisgarh (16th December, 2020) and Manipur...
Paper on Parliamentary Questions Related to Tobacco in India
Dr. Upendra Bhojani, co-authored a paper in the BMJ Global Health, along with Amiti Varma & Latha Chilgod of the Institute of Public Health, Bengaluru. This is the first peer-reviewed paper from the DEEP project titled “Diverse and competing interests around...
India Tobacco Industry Interference Index 2020
Led by Dr. Upendra Bhojani and Adhip Amin from IPH, the India Tobacco Industry Interference Index 2020 report has been produced through a collaborative work of several institutions and individuals active in tobacco control research and practice in India. The report...