Tobacco Free Youth Campaign

Every year around 13 lakh people lose their lives due to tobacco in India. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare launched the Tobacco Free Youth Campaign to protect the health and well-being of India’s youth. 

Objective of the campaign

The objective of the campaign is to protect the health and well-being of young people from the harmful effects of tobacco. 

Tobacco Free Youth Campaign 1.0

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare introduced the first Tobacco Free Youth Campaign last year, on May 31, 2023, in celebration of World No Tobacco Day. The campaign centered around four main strategies: raising public awareness about the dangers of tobacco, promoting the establishment of Tobacco-Free Educational Institutions (ToFEI), strengthening enforcement of Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) 2023, and creating Tobacco-Free Villages. The campaign was a huge success, with over 1,42,184 educational institutions and more than 12,000 villages declared tobacco-free. Additionally, COTPA 2003 was strictly enforced, with numerous challans issued.

Tobacco-Free Youth Campaign 2.0

Tobacco-Free Youth Campaign 2.0 was launched on 24 September 2024 with the aim to motivate young people to resist or quit tobacco use. The campaign will run for 60 days.

The focus is on offering educational materials, promoting initiatives such as enforcement drives and IEC activities and establishment of tobacco free villages and educational institutions to encourage a tobacco-free lifestyle among young people across India.

The 60-day campaign prioritizes five key areas:

• Increasing public awareness about the dangers of tobacco, particularly among youth and rural communities;
• Improving compliance with the revised guidelines for Tobacco-Free Educational Institutions (ToFEI) to keep schools and colleges free from tobacco;
• Strengthening the enforcement of tobacco control laws, especially COTPA 2003 and the Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes Act (PECA) 2019, to limit youth access to tobacco;
• Promoting Tobacco-Free Villages, where communities work together to eliminate tobacco and create healthier environments; and
• Boosting social media outreach, using digital platforms to deliver strong messages about the harms of tobacco and the benefits of quitting to young people.

Source : PIB

Related resources

1. Guidelines for Tobacco Free Educational Institution (Revised)
2. Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 (COTPA 2003)
3. Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Amendment Rules, 2023