New Delhi, Nov 14 (UI) Tobacco Board of India has been awarded the Golden Leaf Award in the Most Impressive Public Service Initiative category for 2019 for its efforts to initiate various sustainability (green) initiatives in Flue-Cured Virginia (FCV) tobacco cultivation in India.

Tobacco Board Executive Director K Sunitha received the award at Tab Expo 2019 event in Amsterdam, The Netherlands on Wednesday.

The awards under this category are given to a company or institution that introduced a public service programme or educational campaign of creativity, effectiveness to date and best use of resources. Awards are granted on an annual basis to companies that have achieved outstanding performance in five categories - most impressive public service initiative, most promising new product introduction, most exciting newcomer to the industry, most outstanding service to the industry and the BMJ most committed to quality award.

The Golden Leaf Awards were created to recognise professional excellence and dedication in the tobacco industry by Tobacco Reporter, an international magazine in the year 2006.

In 2014, the Tobacco Board of India won a Golden Leaf Award in the Most Impressive Public Service Initiative category for its implementation of an electronic auction system, which has made the marketing of flue-cured tobacco in India more transparent and accountable.

India is the world's fourth largest producer of FCV tobacco. As many as 88,000 FCV tobacco farmers and their families in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are dependent on this crop for their livelihood, according to a Commerce and Industry statement here on Thursday.

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