Smoking and Chewing Tobacco: Obstacle Towards Sustainable Development

Smoking and chewing tobacco has become very common, fevourite and fashionable custom, especially among young boys. Its consumption is highest in number among the least educated, poorest, and scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. The prevalence of use of tobacco may be underestimated by almost 11% and 1.5% for chewing tobacco among men and women, respectively, and by 5% and 0.5% for smoking among men and women, respectively, because of use of household informants. Tobacco consumption is significantly higher in poor, illiterate, less educated, scheduled castes and scheduled tribe populations. The prevalence of tobacco consumption increased up to the age of 50 years and then leveled or declined. The prevalence of smoking and chewing also varied widely between different states and had a strong association with individual's socio-cultural characteristics. The present paper attempts to highlight the impact of smoking and use of tobacco in socio-economic life of people.