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K'taka tobacco growers seek excise duty cut 

Tobacco growers in Karnataka have demanded the Union government to rollback the abnormal hike in excise duty on non-filter cigarettes that would affect the livelihood of 37 lakh farmers in the state.

SM Anantharam, president of Karnataka Tobacco Growers' Forum said, around 70,000 hectares of rain fed lands are covered under tobacco cultivation in the state. In the total 95-100 million kgs of tobacco produced per year, he said around 25-30% of the commodity is lower grade that is procured for non-filter cigarettes.

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