Udupi: The Youth Red Cross of Jain College, V.V. Puram, conducted an anti-tobacco awareness rally recently to educate the youth and public about the dire consequences of using tobacco. The rally was organised with the support and collaboration of the Anti-Tobacco Cell, Karnataka, and the Karnataka Police Department.

The Chairman of JGI Group, Dr Chenraj Roychand, flagged off the rally from the V.V. Puram Campus and motivated the students to organise more events like this in the future.

The students walked from the college heading towards KIMS via Basappa Circle, Vasavi Road, and returned to the college campus. They completed the five-kilometre walk enthusiastically by displaying placards, distributing anti-tobacco pamphlets to the public and pasting awareness posters on the paan shops selling tobacco products.

Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death in the world and every year tobacco kills approximately 6 million people. The WHO report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2013, states that one-third of youth experimentation with tobacco occurs because of exposure to tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship. The students commented on mass campaigns against the promotion of tobacco as a way forward to eradicate this global epidemic.