Current Affairs

Tobacco-Free Youth Campaign 4.0 launched – 60-day nationwide drive focused on colleges and universities

30 October 2026 · English Important Days

Tobacco-Free Youth Campaign 4.0 launched – 60-day nationwide drive focused on colleges and universities

Topics: Energy, Defence & Health · 30 October 2026 Current Affairs (UPSC / TNPSC / SSC / RRB)

News

On behalf of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Minister of State Prataprao Jadhav launched 'Tobacco-Free Youth Campaign 4.0' (TFYC 4.0) on 28 Oct 2026 at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Medical Sciences – Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, New Delhi. It runs nationwide for 60 days. Aims: stop young people from starting tobacco, help users quit and enforce the law; this edition focuses on colleges and universities. It follows a whole-of-government approach involving several ministries and State/UT administrations.

Key facts

Launch28 Oct 2026 – ABVIMS & RML Hospital, New Delhi
Launched byPrataprao Jadhav – MoS Health; MoS (Independent Charge) AYUSH
Duration60 days – nationwide
Six strategiesAwareness; Tobacco-Free Educational Institutions (ToFEI); tobacco-free villages; enforcement; social media; colleges & universities
LawsCOTPA 2003; Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes Act (PECA) 2019
Earlier editions1.0 – 31 May 2023; 2.0 – Sept 2024; 3.0 – Oct 2025; so far 5.8 lakh+ institutions and 73,000+ villages declared tobacco-free

Background

  • COTPA 2003 (Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act): Section 4 – ban on smoking in public places; Section 5 – ban on tobacco advertising; Section 6 – no sale to under-18s or within 100 yards of educational institutions; Section 7 – health warnings on packs. TFYC 3.0 saw 1,45,477 challans under COTPA.
  • The Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes Act (PECA) 2019 bans the production, sale, import, export and advertising of e-cigarettes.
  • International: the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) – adopted by the World Health Assembly in 2003, in force from 2005; India ratified it in 2004. India's National Tobacco Control Programme (NTCP) dates from 2007–08. World No Tobacco Day – 31 May.
  • Science: the addictive chemical in tobacco is nicotine – an 'alkaloid'. Tobacco is a major cause of mouth, lung and throat cancers.

Tamil Nadu link: in May 2013 the Tamil Nadu government banned gutka, pan masala and other chewable tobacco products under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006; the Commissioner of Food Safety renews the ban each year by notification.

Source: ANI, DD India, Morung Express, 28 Oct 2026 (Health Ministry); FoodNavigator-Asia (May 2013); tnhealth.tn.gov.in

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