The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, is launching the Tobacco-Free Youth Campaign on October 9, 2025. This 60-day nationwide campaign is a major step towards protecting youth from the ill effects of tobacco, promoting a healthy lifestyle, and making the country tobacco-free. The campaign will inspire active participation of youth, schools, colleges, rural communities, and local bodies to build an empowered, aware, and tobacco-free society.
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🔹Five key strategies of the campaign:
1. Raising Public Awareness:
A massive public awareness campaign will be launched among youth, especially rural communities, about the serious ill effects and health hazards of tobacco use.
2. Tobacco-Free Educational Institutions (ToFEI):
The revised Tobacco-Free Educational Institutions (ToFEI) guidelines will be strictly enforced to ensure that schools and colleges are tobacco-free.
3. Effective Enforcement of Laws:
Youth’s access to tobacco will be limited by strictly enforcing legal provisions under the COTPA 2003 (Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act) and the PECA 2019 (Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes Act).
4. Promotion of Tobacco-Free Villages:
Through community-level public participation, villages will be developed where tobacco consumption, sale, or production are completely eliminated—realizing the vision of “Healthy Villages, Strong India.”
5. Digital and Social Media Campaigns:
Strong messages about the harms of tobacco and the benefits of quitting will be disseminated among youth through digital platforms. The sentiment of “youth as agents of change” will be promoted through social media.
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🔹 Campaign Launches in Himachal Pradesh:
This campaign will also be launched in Himachal Pradesh for 60 days starting today. Under this initiative, detailed guidelines were issued to all District Magistrates and Health Department officials via video conferencing.
A plan has been developed to connect schools, colleges, panchayats, and local communities in all districts of the state with this initiative, so that collective efforts can be made to keep youth away from tobacco use.
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To ensure the successful implementation of this campaign in the state, Himachal Pradesh Health Secretary M. Sudha Devi held a video conference with District Magistrates, Superintendents of Police, Chief Medical Officers, and officials from other relevant departments and issued appropriate guidelines for the smooth running of the campaign.
“The Tobacco-Free Youth Campaign is not just a program, but a mass movement, aimed at building a healthy and strong India by freeing the next generation from tobacco addiction.”
Mission Director, National Health Mission, Pradeep Kumar Thakur, Director, Health and Regulation, Director, Health, Dr. Gopal Beri, Deputy Mission Director, Dr. Rajesh Guleria, and officials from other related departments were present on this occasion.
