Kolkata: Waking up to the threats and consequences of high rate of tobacco consumption in the population, the West Bengal government has imposed a ban on the manufacture, sale of gutka, pan masala or any other product containing tobacco or Nicotine. The ban comes into effect on Wednesday till next one year.
Madhya Pradesh took the first step followed by Kerala and Bihar. Maharashtra banned both gutka and pan masala. After Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan, Haryana also banned gutka, meanwhile Goa had already banned it under the public health act.
Till about a year ago, gutka reigned as a Rs 20,000 crore industry. But now the gutka industry is admitting to losses, and argues that gutka should not be considered as food at all.
Yet, 5 million children in India are already addicted to oral tobacco and more than 5,000 start using gutka every day....
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06:06 AM, May 01, 2013
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed 23 states and five union territories to file status report on the implementation of the notification issued by them banning the sale of gutka and pan masala containing tobacco or nicotine. The apex court bench of Justice GS Singhvi an Justice Kurien Joseph also directed the remaining states and union territories to explain the reasons why they had not imposed the ban...
03:48 AM, Apr 04, 2013
The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed Health Secretaries of the states and Union Territories (UTs) to file compliance report on implementation of ban on sale and manufacture of gutka and pan masala containing tobacco. ...
06:09 PM, Apr 03, 2013
Even though the government-approved new pictorial warnings on tobacco packets were to be implemented April 1, 2013, a survey by a health organisation said on Monday that no tobacco products in the national capital carried the new warning. ...
05:52 AM, Apr 02, 2013
The Odisha government in a notification on Friday clamped a ban on the manufacture, sale and use of gutka and pan masala containing tobacco or nicotine. ...
06:03 AM, Jan 05, 2013
As 2012 comes to an end, CNN-IBN takes a look at the key health issues of the year - from the fight against polio that India can take pride in to the dismal malnutrition figures that shame the nation. ...
09:22 AM, Dec 27, 2012
New Delhi: A new study has estimated that 100 million people have died due to smoking in India over the last 100 years, and the worst apparently is yet to come. Nearly 4.52 trillion cigarettes and 40.3 trillion beedis have been produced in 100 years, between 1910 and 2010 in India, according to a new study published in the journal Current Science. And in an even more shocking revelation, the...
06:57 AM, Nov 12, 2012
Allahabad: The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday directed the Akhilesh Yadav government to spell out its stand on banning gutka (tobacco pan masala) in Uttar Pradesh within two weeks, and warned if it failed to act, the court would itself slap a ban. The directive came from a bench of Justices Amar Sharan and Anurag Kumar while hearing a petition by the Uttar Pradesh chapter of the Indian Dental Association,...
03:20 AM, Sep 19, 2012
Mumbai: In a major victory for the Maharashtra government, the Bombay High Court on Saturday upheld its decision to ban tobacco flavoured gutka and pan masala in the state from July 19. A division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice Nitin Jamdar, while hearing petitions by gutka and pan masala makers challenging the ban, also ruled that the products qualified as food under the Food Safety and Standards...
07:50 PM, Sep 15, 2012
New Delhi: A year and 12 states later, Delhi has become the latest to ban gutka after the new Food Safety Law banning foods with tobacco and nicotine content came into being. There is a mixed response to the national capital finally banning sale and manufacture of gutka. The ban affecting as many as 10,37,000 people in Delhi who consume gutka, was a result of a petition filed at the...
08:16 PM, Sep 11, 2012
Ahmedabad: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Friday appealed to the people of the state to launch a mass movement against gutka. "This is the time to rise to the occasion together and create a mass movement to remove gutka from our lives and save our youth from the menace of cancer," he wrote on his blog, reminding people about the new legislation banning gutka in the state from September...
10:27 PM, Sep 07, 2012
New Delhi: The capital is set to ban gutka sales across the city. The government told the Delhi High Court on Wednesday that the ban would be put into effect soon. The Sheila Dikshit government was replying to a PIL demanding a ban on gutka products. The PIL was filed by doctors citing a spurt in oral and lung cancer cases in the capital. ...
01:17 PM, Aug 22, 2012
Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Thursday declined to stay the ban imposed by the state government on the manufacture, storage and sale of gutka, pan masala and their variants containing tobacco and nicotine. Justice T R Ramachandran Nair passed the order on a batch of petitions filed by the All-Kerala Tobacco Dealers Association and others challenging the ban. The petitioners contended that the ban order is illegal as it...
01:04 PM, Aug 03, 2012
Pune: Though the state government banned gutka and paan masala a few days ago, MiD DAY has found that it is not difficult to get the tobacco products in the city. The ban came into force on July 20, and since then officials of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Pune division, have upped their efforts to prevent paan stall owners and wholesalers from storing, distributing or selling gutka and...
04:50 PM, Jul 26, 2012
In a major breakthrough in the battle against tobacco, six states have banned gutka and other tobacco foods. Here is the full transcript of CNN-IBN's Deputy Editor Sagarika Ghose's chat with experts over the issue: Sagarika Ghose: Hi there. Good evening. We are focusing tonight on the tobacco product gutka. Now anti-gutka campaigners say gutka is extremely injurious to health and leads to oral cancer. India is the capital of...
10:41 AM, Jul 26, 2012
In a major breakthrough in the battle against tobacco, six states have banned gutka and other tobacco foods. ...
11:59 PM, Jul 25, 2012
New Delhi/Mumbai: In a major breakthrough, six states have banned gutka and other tobacco products. The anti-tobacco lobby is calling it a major victory. While the country is fighting the larger battle to ban gutka, Sarfabad in Uttar Pradesh has become the third village to go tobacco free. The Panchayat there has decided to ban gutka after several young people succumbed to critical diseases. A villager, Sukhbir Singh, said, "There...
10:00 AM, Jul 25, 2012
Mumbai: Almost two days after the Maharashtra government imposed a year-long ban on the sale of gutka and pan masala in the state, Maharashtras Food and Drug Ministry is now mulling over plans to rope in a brand ambassador to support the cause. At the forefront is Bollywood actor Vivek Oberoi, who is also the ambassador for the World Health Organisations (WHO) anti-smoking movement. Sources in the Food and Drug...
04:07 PM, Jul 23, 2012
Mumbai: The ban on gutka and pan masala across Maharashtra came into effect on Friday. The state government issued a notification banning sale and consumption of gutka and pan masala in the state. It will be valid for a year, after which it will be extended for another 12 months. The state cabinet had decided on the ban last week. Figures show that gutka was one of the major reasons...
03:47 PM, Jul 20, 2012
Thiruvananthapuram: Citing increasing incidence of diseases like oral cancer, the Congress-led UDF government in Kerala on Friday announced a ban on the manufacture and sale of gutka and pan masala containing tobacco in the state with immediate effect. Announcing the decision at a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said the ban on gutka and pan masala containing tobacco and nicotine was enforced under the provisions of Food...
03:55 PM, May 25, 2012
