Jaunpur : “Tobacco-Free Youth Campaign-3.0″Rally
“Under the National Tobacco Control Program, a massive public awareness rally on “Tobacco-Free Youth Campaign-3.0″ was flagged off by Chief Medical Officer Dr. Laxmi Singh.”
Jaunpur 09/10/2025 Report by Santosh Seth
Students from Kunwar Harivansh Singh Paramedical College participated in the rally. Under the National Tobacco Control Program, Tobacco-Free Campaign-3.0 will be run in the district for the next 60 days, starting October 9, 2025.
Chief Medical Officer Dr. Laxmi Singh stated that approximately 6 million people worldwide die from tobacco use every year. One smoker dies every 6.5 seconds. Of every 100 cancer patients in India, 40 die due to tobacco use.
Dr. B.C. Pant, Nodal Officer, Tobacco Control Program, informed that the Global Youth Tobacco Survey 2021 was recently released by the Government of India.
According to this, 23 percent of boys and 24 percent of girls use tobacco products in some form, and 22 percent of students smoke passively in public places.
Furthermore, if we look at the GATS-2 report, 23.1 percent of men, 3.2 percent of women, and 13.5 percent of all adults currently consume tobacco.
He encouraged youth to stay away from tobacco addiction and made them aware of the risk factors of tobacco. He also encouraged cooperation in the effective implementation of all sections of the tobacco control law, COTPA, 2003, in the entire district.
FLC Jaiprakash Gupta stated that six activities will be organized under the Tobacco-Free Youth Campaign 3.0, which will run for 60 days from October 9, 2025. First, various programs will be conducted to raise awareness about the harmful effects of tobacco.
Second, with the cooperation of the District School Inspector/District Basic Education Officer, all schools in the district will be declared tobacco-free. Third, with the cooperation of the District Panchayati Raj Officer, all villages/panchayats in the district will be declared tobacco-free.
Fourth, enforcement action will be taken by the Police Department and Food Administration under the COTPA 2003 and PCA 2019 Acts. Fifth, awareness will be created through print/social media, and sixth, various training programs will be organized.
The rally was attended by MH Consultant Neeraj Singh, DCPM Mohammad Khubaib Raza, and all the employees/officers of the Chief Medical Officer’s Office and the NCD Cell. The program was coordinated by Sushil Agrahari.