In Kashmir, 23 Per Cent Students Smoke, Reveals Study

Over 60 per cent of students became addicted after coming in contact with smokers in public places while some others tried to imitate film stars.

Srinagar: A study by the Department of Community Medicine at Government Medical College (GMC) in Srinagar revealed that 23 per cent of students smoke. Of these, over 14 per cent buy cigarettes with their parents' money and in Srinagar alone 29 per cent of students smoke.

The study shows more than 60 per cent of students became addicted after coming in contact with smokers in public places while some tried to imitate film stars. This is the scenario despite a blanket ban on selling tobacco products and other intoxicants to minors around schools.

About 51.1 per cent of children smoke two to five cigarettes a day while the majority of them (14.8 per cent) buy cigarettes from general stores. Similarly, more than 16 per cent of children spend over Rs 1,000 a month on smoking. Around 94.6 per cent of these children are aware of the harmful effects of smoking, the survey shows, and only 20.2 per cent of students tried to quit smoking this year while 40 per cent have pledged to quit smoking. On the other hand, 37 per cent of the population in Jammu and Kashmir are using tobacco products.

Kashmir Sixth in Cigarette Consumption

According to a recently published report in the National Journal of Community Medicine, the rate of smokers in Kashmir has increased to 37 per cent and it comes sixth in the country in cigarette consumption. The report states that the rate of smokers among men is 36.7 per cent while for women it is just one per cent. Earlier, the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) reported a smoking prevalence of 33 per cent in the valley.

It ranks fourth in India in terms of the smoking population as, according to a survey conducted in 2022, people spend Rs 850 crore annually on cigarettes.

Maximum Smoker in Kupwara

The NFHS revealed that 38.3 per cent of the male population in rural and urban areas of Jammu and Kashmir uses tobacco products and more than half of the population of Kupwara district smokes. About 56.6 per cent of people in this border district use various tobacco products in any form, followed by the border district of Shopian where 52 per cent of the population smokes or consumes various tobacco products. Out of these, five per cent are women.

Similarly, Anantnag comes third in smoking with a 49.9 per cent smoker population, and for Badgam it's 48.8 per cent. Among the 20 districts, Jammu with a 26.5 per cent smoker population comes lower, followed by Khattak.

Meanwhile, Bandipora is said to be at the top in terms of tobacco consumption or smoking by women with 9.1 per cent of them addicted, followed by Kupwara with 6.8 per cent.

In contrast, according to the 2022 survey, the rate of women addicted to smoking in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, and Jammu, the winter capital, was 1.9 per cent and .8 per cent respectively.