By TCN News,
Patna: Bans have traditionally always been looked up as an infringement of personal rights, but it seems that this is not the case for the Gutka Ban in Bihar. According to a recent study, in fact, the support for Gutka bans is very high in the state, including from people who used to consume it.
The Bihar state report is part of a larger eight-state research study undertaken last year by the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs (CCP) and Centre for Communication and Change-India (CCC-I), New Delhi with support from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Institute for Global Tobacco Control (IGTC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) Country Office for India.
The study aimed to understand the impact of state laws that ban the sale and distribution of Gutka. The study was conducted in eight states: Assam, Bihar, Delhi, Gujarat, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka.
The report, which was conducted in the districts of Patna and Gaya last year, was released yesterday by Patna’s mayor Afzal Imam. The study shows that of the respondents who quit since the ban, a substantial proportion (92%) reported that they quit because “Gutka was not available”. More than half (64%) of the respondents agree that the Gutka ban will help people to quit.
The study also says that there was virtually no retail outlet that where pre-packaged Gutka was on display. However, it also added that 15% of the retail outlets surveyed were within 100 yards of an educational institute.
“The study provides evidence that majority of respondents have quit using Gutka as it was not available after the ban. Some have even made efforts to stop using Gutka in the last one year. However, tobacco cessation services need to be strengthened along with stronger enforcement mechanisms to ensure that the ban is effective.” Sanjeeta Agnihotri, Centre for Communication and Change-India, said.
The report also, however, added that “smokeless tobacco products are freely available at a very low price near educational institutions leading to easy access of these products by youth. The boards declaring that “sale of tobacco products to minors is prohibited” were not displayed at all outlets as per the law. This calls for a stronger monitoring of tobacco control laws.”