The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Reaching the youth before the cigarette does

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Feb 21, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Reaching the youth before the cigarette does

By Our Staff Reporter

Fashion guru Prasad Bidapa signing at a signature campaign against tobacco, in Bangalore on Sunday. — Photo: K. Murali Kumar

BANGALORE, FEB.20. Association of Students Working Against Tobacco (SWAT) chose Sunday to show just why it was serious about combating tobacco consumption.

Unveiling one of the longest banners with signatures of over 1.6 lakh students pledging never to pick up a cigarette, SWAT made a statement bang on the city's showpiece, M.G. Road.

Today's turnout featured the Mayor, Deputy Mayor, fashion guru Prasad Bidappa, theatre person Priscilla Corner, danseuse Vani Ganapathy and other Bangaloreans equally conscious about the ill effects of tobacco. Even Chief Minister, N. Dharam Singh, sent his note of endorsement for the cause. He hoped that the people, especially the youth, would whole-heartedly support the cause.

Students of the Event Management Development Institute (EMDI) were seen on M.G. Road, requesting fellow Bangaloreans to take a pledge.

Here's what EMDI director, Arvind Sabhaney, had to say: "The students have truly worked hard to make this movement come alive.

"They feel strongly that this initiative can make a difference in the lives of the youth — they want to reach out to the youth before the cigarette does."

For the record, SWAT focuses on the social aspects of smoking. "The key message here is that one does not need to smoke to gain social acceptance, that not smoking is positively `cool'.

"This message is likely to have an impact on teenagers than mundane facts about the hazards of smoking or gory images of cancer-afflicted body parts, which one ignores despite being fully informed about it," says a SWAT member.

To further fortify this message, youth icons such as Rahul Dravid and Kiran Mazumdar Shaw have gone on record, expressing their solidarity with SWAT. Incidentally, SWAT is all set for launch in other cities as a first step to give it a nationwide base.

For more on SWAT and its cause, check out www.smokefreeworld.net or call Ph: 51128990.

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