Children participating in a door-to-door jatha against tobacco consumption in tribal villages around B.R. Hills in Chamarajanagar district. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Volunteers gather in front of Mysuru palace on Wednesday as part of the Hope-A-Thon, a 3-km walk as part of World No Tobacco Day. | Photo Credit: M.A. Sriram
A demonstration against consumption of tobacco under way as part of the No Tobacco Day event in front of Mysuru palace on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: M.A. Sriram
A door-to-door awareness jatha by schoolchildren in tribal villages around B.R. Hills in Chamarajanagar district and Hope-A-Thon, a 3-km walk around Mysuru palace, were among the events organized as part of World No Tobacco Day on Wednesday.
The children, from local schools around B.R. Hills, went on a jatha in Erakanagadde, Muthugadagadde and Hosapodu tribal hamlets holding aloft placards against consumption of tobacco and smoking of beedis before visiting every household and distributing pamphlets on the ill-effects of tobacco.
The children also shouted slogans like ‘Tobacco is a killer, stay away from it’.
Earlier, headmaster of the Government Higher Primary School in B.R. Hills R. Rangaswamy inaugurated the awareness programme against tobacco organized by the Institute of Public Health, Bengaluru, under the initiative of Centre for Training, Research and Innovation in Tribal Health in association with Chamarajanagar district Health and Family Welfare Department, Vivekananda Girijana Kalyana Kendra, Chamarajanagar Zilla Budakattu Girijana Abhivrudhi Sangha and Yelandur taluk Soliga Abhivrudhi Sangha.
While Mr. Rangaswamy said schoolchildren will also be made aware of the harmful effects of tobacco during the daily morning prayer meetings, Dr. Prashant N.S., Assistant Director of Research at Institute of Public Bengaluru, said a tobacco de-addiction centre named ‘Hosajeevana’ will operate at Vivekananda Girijana Kalyana Kendra every Friday and called upon people to make use of its services.
Dr. Prashant also provided details of toll-free quitline number 1800 112356 run by NIMHANS and the Health and Family Welfare Department, where services were available in multiple languages including Kannada.
Hope-A-Thon
Meanwhile, hundreds of people including students of various nursing colleges in the city participated in Hope-A-Thon, a 3 km walk around Mysuru palace, organized by HCG-Bharath Hospital and Institute of Oncology (BHIO) on Wednesday as part of the World No Tobacco Day.
A statement issued by the organisers also said that Antardhwani, HCG-BHIO’s independent think tank, had successfully lured about 50 tobacco farmers in Hunsur towards cultivation of sandalwood.
As part of the alternative farming project, the farmers are growing sandalwood, besides other seasonal fruits like guava and sapota on around 50 acres of land. About 15,000 high grade saplings of sandalwood and 8,000 saplings of seasonal fruits like guava and sapota had been given to the farmers as part of the Antardhwani project, the statement added.
