NSS volunteers observe World No Tobacco Day at Vet Varsity

Ludhiana: With an objective to aware and warn the people against the harmful effects of tobacco, the National Service Scheme (NSS) wing of Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU) observed the “World No Tobacco Day” here at campus on Wednesday (May 31).

In an awareness campaign the participants highlighted the ill effects of tobacco use and suggested ways to stay away from the smoking menace. Exhorting the masses to shun the habit of smoking, Director Students’ Welfare, Dr. Satyavan Rampal said that it was indeed a great effort by young brains. He said young minds carry and spread such messages more effectively and aggressively thus bringing about tangible impacts in society. He urged the students not to limit such activities on a particular day but to keep contributing to social causes throughout the year with their regular participation.

NSS University Programme Coordinator, Nidhi Sharma highlighted as to how the NSS volunteers had visited various localities where they urged the people to shun smoking and tobacco chewing habits. She informed that students actively and effectively used the social media platform especially the WhatsApp groups to spread the messages by sharing small clips on ill effects of tobacco chewing. Highlighting the need for such campaign she said that since bad effects of smoking were not only restricted to the smokers but also to the ones in their proximity.

Dr. Siva Kumar, NSS College Coordinator (Dairy Science) said that every year in India about 10 to 12 lakh people die due to tobacco consumption and therefore it was a welcome step that young brains attached with NSS had undertook the daunting task of fighting this deadly menace through such activities. Mr. Vijay Reddy, NSS College Coordinator (Fisheries) suggested that plain packaging of tobacco products would help in reduced demand of such items and save many lives.

The winner of extempore speech Gargi Saini, 1st year B.Tech student of College of Dairy Science, stated that every six seconds a person dies due to tobacco consumption and the youth must join hands to save our fellow citizens from this preventable cause of death. The second prize went to Navneet Kaur, 1st year B.F.Sc. student. In essay writing competition, the first prize was given to Robin Kaura, 2nd year B.Tech student and second prize was given to Oshin, 1st year B.Tech student.