According to the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS-2, 2016–17), 20.8% of adults (15 ) in Jammu & Kashmir use smoked tobacco (cigarettes, bidis, hookah, etc.), including 35.2% of men and 5.1% of women. Around 10.4% of adults smoke cigarettes. Based on current population estimates, this translates to approximately 2.1–2.5 million tobacco usersand 1.0–1.3 million cigarette smokers in J&K. Recent reports continue to place J&K among the higher tobacco-consuming regions of India.

Tobacco, whether smoked or chewed (gutka), causes serious physical, mental, and behavioural........

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