Post-ban, gutkas of 50,000 firms seized in three years

Further, fine of Rs 8,780 has been collected under Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, told Food and Drugs Control Administration Commissioner HG Koshia to The Indian Express. On the effectiveness of this ban in the state, Koshia confirmed, “As suggested during the discussions, the department is planning to target schools and colleges to organise awareness camps against consumption of gutka and other tobacco related products. It is very important to focus on teenagers and youth who are susceptible to tobacco consumption.”

Post- ban on the production and sale of gutka in Gujarat since September 11,2012, entire 100 per cent of gutka consumers have switched over to something similar-to-gutka by buying ingredients separately to combine with tobacco and consumed as gutka or a product similar to gutka. Also, 43 to 55 per cent consumers had initiated gutka below 20 years of age.

This was revealed by the study undertaken to examine the impact of gutka ban in Gujarat by Johns Hopkins Centre for Communication Programmes and Centre for Communication and Change-India, New Delhi with support from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Institute for Global Tobacco Control and the World Health Organization.

Further, interestingly, despite 100 per cent consumption of something similar-to-gutka items, the study revealed that 97 per cent of the respondents agreed that the government should ban manufacturing, sale and distribution of other forms of smokeless tobacco as well. As the support for gutka ban was high to 86 per cent, a larger percentage of 99 per cent respondents agreed that the gutka ban is good for health of India’s youth.

The study aimed to understand the impact and effectiveness of the ban on sale and distribution of gutka in Gujarat was undertaken in 2014. Under the study, surveys were conducted in the districts of Ahmedabad and Vadodara covering 123 current and former gutka users and 61 tobacco product retailers. Also, to take different stakeholders’ reaction to the ban, interviews of government officials, enforcement officials and citizens working with civil society groups was also conducted.

Similarly, the study was conducted in seven other states- Assam, Bihar, Delhi, Odisha, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. Despite the higher levels of consumption of tobacco in one form or the other, 55 per cent of current users and 50 per cent of dual users (gutka consumers who have used gutka or something similar-to-gutka by mixing tobacco and have also used any other tobacco product at least once in the past month) admitted that they have made serious efforts to quit gutka or similar product.