Why 11 States have Banned Gutka & Pan Masala

Mumbai: Meet Rajkamal Prajapati, aged 28, who was doing a job and studying for his B.Ed. Married, with two young daughters, Rajkamal was living in a little-known town called Orai in Jalaun district, UP, until cancer turned his world upside down. Currently, Rajkamal is in Mumbai's Tata Memorial Hospital, where large parts of his tongue and tonsils were removed on 26th August 2012. Now he faces the challenges of coping with radiation therapy and relearning to talk again. It's a steep price to pay for having chewed gutka and smoked cigarettes for only three years!

The Legal Basis Of The Ban On Chewable Tobacco:
Point 2.3.4 of the notification issued by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) on 1st August, 2011 says, "Product not to contain any substance which may be injurious to health: Tobacco and nicotine shall not be used as ingredients in any food products." Hence all smokeless tobacco products such as gutka, khaini, etc stand banned. This is as per Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, and under the authority of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, Ministry of Health.
The report submitted by the National Institute of Health and Family Welfare (NIHFW) to the Supreme Court gives evidence of various fatal diseases caused in millions of people in India by the deceptively named "smokeless tobacco". These diseases can only be controlled by prohibiting the sale of such products. Read this report: http://tiny.cc/Report-NIHFW-SC
The gutka and pan masala manufacturers are trying to escape this ban by arguing that these products are not "food" as defined under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, and therefore, the Food Safety and Standards Act is not applicable. They contend that Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 – known as COTPA – is applicable, and therefore, gutka and pan masala may be regulated under COTPA but not banned under Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. Thankfully, this tenuous argument has failed to convince the Supreme Court. In the Godawat Pan Masala Case, the Supreme Court clearly stated that: "We are... unable to agree with the contention that pan masala or gutka does not amount to "food" within the meaning of definition in Section 2(v) of the Act." Thus it is settled law that Gutka and Pan Masala are food products.
Of course, manufacturers and distributors of "smokeless tobacco products" may approach the judiciary to fight a last-gasp battle. However, unless and until they get a stay order from the relevant High Court, Regulation 2.3.4. is the law of the land. This means that the Food & Drugs Authority of every state is mandated to implement the ban at the earliest.
In addition to the force of law, there is the great power of moral conviction. 56 Members of Parliaments, Chief Ministers, Governors and other high-profile decision-makers have signed the pledge to curb the use of chewing tobacco, to ensure that unwary people like Rajkamal Prajapati and Ramesh Chowdhury stop becoming mutilated victims.