Two Rupees, One Addiction: India's Cheap Smokeless-Tobacco Crisis

India faces a cheap, under-regulated smokeless-tobacco crisis centered on 2-rupee gutka packets that fuel addiction for about 20 crore daily users and push roughly 18.4 million people into extreme poverty each year due to tobacco-related illness. Unlike cigarettes, smokeless tobacco remains affordable, widely available, and under-taxed, with socioeconomic and rural factors driving its use. The piece traces its colonial roots, explains why gutka is highly addictive, and criticizes the 2011 gutka ban for loopholes. It lays out policy fixes: treat mixed gutka as a single product, enforce packaging and plastic bans, require retailer licenses, raise the legal purchase age to 21, hike taxes toward the WHO-recommended 75% of price, and run targeted campaigns to reduce demand.