Working in the industrial city of Rajasthan, Bhilwara has shown different sides of its practices and stories. One of the major populated formation in this industrial community, is of the migrants, who travel from Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, to gain employment.
Amid the noisy, clouded, chemicalized room where the workers sweat out their physical labour for 12-16 hours. As a field worker, I have seen this demographic consume smokeless tobacco, or gutka, as it is colloquially called, almost as a ritual. Whether it is a day or a night shift, Gutka becomes a saathi, a companion for labourers during the hours of heavy labour work, giving them just the hit to get by. The nicotine content does that magic of giving the boost needed for working through the long taxing hours of factory shifts.
Gutka As A Coping Mechanism
The using of such means of substance is seen mostly amongst the working crowd in rural areas, exhibiting daily physical laborious duties. Here in Bhilwara, wherein the community is hailing from the rural backdrop of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar predominantly, the use of such means of substance also gradually rises.
Migration has seen individuals leave homelands in search of work, across different areas, mostly a few concentrated urban space. This comes out from the urbanization or development in industrial aspects only in certain concentrated areas; making people from smaller towns and villages having to move only to these areas in search of better life and work opportunities. However, with better work opportunities in the urban or industrial town, away from ones own social circle, comes the burden of emotional loneliness, leading to turn to ways to get by the stress and frustration.
According to the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS), as showcased below, this observation is triangulated in the percentages (fig 1).
TINA (There Is No Alternative) To ‘Gutka’!
Migration to this industrial town is a consequent result of circumstances that make the young adult, ranging from the ages of 20 – 25 year old  work in laborious conditions, after dropping out of their schooling. This data below shows the age (fig 2) and the educational backgrounds (fig 3) of the consumers of tobacco, giving an indication of the consumption preference that shifts with a shift from education drop put to labour work.
The gradual shift from education to dropping out to start out as a earning member for the family, is the leading cause of migration from the rural area to the regions with job opportunities. The reason for such drop out levels is the lack of financial literacy and financial inclusion that could be used during economical distress, leading for a premature engagement of children in wage earning jobs. This entails both the availability, accessibility of financial models for such economic groups, along with the awareness to empower this group to sustain themselves.
This pie chart above shows how the results of such distress consequently brought up the gutka consumption amongst this particular crowd. 43.8% are those who could attain education up to secondary schooling or less, however eventually leading to a drop out to start off as a labourer. Soon after this physical work, with other burdens in mind starting to build up, shoots up the percentage of the smokeless tobacco consumption.
Social Connectedness
The use of the tobacco substances often becomes a social activity, bringing labourers during their short span of breaks, to a space shared with a handful of tobacco chewed and conversations filled with concerns and hopes. Gearing up for the next round of shift, merged with the machinery work, a sense of connection with the other labourers, comes through this informal setting of tobacco sharing. At this point, gutka transcends its roles as a stimulant or stress relief, and hones another identity of a social adhesive, binding individuals together.
The Economic Essence
One packet of vimal, or a tobacco is 5 rupees. A labourer in this industrial area on average consumes 10 packets. On a day this becomes an expenditure of 50 rupees. Monthly this amounts to an expenditure of 1500. The monetary fixes to a stimulant is marked by the economic status of that individual. This form of consumption, in the urban, among secured wage earners, will become an expensive often a 10-15 rupees spend on a single product, consumed multiple times a day. The economic significance of gutka among this crowd, is a marker of their identity, just as the substance respectively is for the urban crowd.
The monetary divide in the form of a consumption is seen in the way the working conditions present themselves, and the reason that the occupation is being picked up. Rural crowds often are seen to be attracted to the urbanization of towns, and migrate to find better wages work. However, this often turns out to be a exhausting process to live by the intense laborious work they take up.
Conclusion
The impact of a tobacco substance holds heavy in domains of coping mechanism, acting as a social catalyst and the economic significance this one nicotine hitting substance brings about. To moralize it otherwise would seem unfair for those whose life already seems unfair, dropping out of schooling to start hard physical labour early on in their life, to take on their family’s burden to run the household. Rather, how the thin line that exists between the moralizing factor, and the factor that gets them going for their immediate survival, is where Gutka consumption plays a vital role.
The correlation between consuming tobacco to de-stress themselves, with that few minutes of a hit, to the circumstances leading to their now physically laborious, often times low paying jobs, is not something that is seen only in the rural areas. However, the impact amongst this community is higher, given their low level of financial inclusive services, their financial literacy level and a higher rising liabilities with their families to be taken care of.
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