Every year around 13 lakh people lose their lives due to tobacco in India. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare launched the Tobacco Free Youth Campaign in 2023 to protect young minds from the dangers of tobacco and nicotine. Objective of the campaign The objective of the campaign is to protect the health and well-being of young people from the harmful effects of tobacco. Tobacco Free Youth Campaign 3.0 The 60-day Tobacco Free Youth Campaign 3.0 was launched on October 9, 2025. It prioritizes following enhanced key strategies: intensifying public awareness campaigns about the dangers of tobacco; strengthening compliance with the revised guidelines for Tobacco-Free Educational Institutions (ToFEI) to maintain schools and colleges as tobacco-free zones; reinforcing enforcement of tobacco control laws – the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) 2003 and the Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes Act (PECA) 2019; expanding the Tobacco-Free Villages initiative, empowering communities to collectively eliminate tobacco use and create healthier environments; amplifying social media outreach through innovative digital platforms and capacity building for tobacco cessation. The TFYC 3.0 continues to emphasize a comprehensive ‘whole of government’ approach through strengthened partnership and coordination between key ministries - Ministry of Education, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Ministry of Rural Development, Ministry of Youth and Sports Affairs, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Telecommunication, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, among others, as well as enhanced collaboration with development partners. Tobacco-Free Youth Campaign 2.0 Tobacco-Free Youth Campaign 2.0 was launched on 24 September 2024 with the aim to motivate young people to resist or quit tobacco use. The campaign will run for 60 days. The focus is on offering educational materials, promoting initiatives such as enforcement drives and IEC activities and establishment of tobacco free villages and educational institutions to encourage a tobacco-free lifestyle among young people across India. The 60-day campaign prioritizes five key areas: Increasing public awareness about the dangers of tobacco, particularly among youth and rural communities; Improving compliance with the revised guidelines for Tobacco-Free Educational Institutions (ToFEI) to keep schools and colleges free from tobacco; Strengthening the enforcement of tobacco control laws, especially COTPA 2003 and the Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes Act (PECA) 2019, to limit youth access to tobacco; Promoting Tobacco-Free Villages, where communities work together to eliminate tobacco and create healthier environments; and Boosting social media outreach, using digital platforms to deliver strong messages about the harms of tobacco and the benefits of quitting to young people. The momentum continued with TFYC 2.0 in September 2024, which expanded the campaign’s impact: more than 1,67,762 educational institutions and 27,534 villages achieved tobacco-free status, and intensified enforcement resulted in fines exceeding Rs. 1.1 crore. Tobacco Free Youth Campaign 1.0 The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare introduced the first Tobacco Free Youth Campaign last year, on May 31, 2023, in celebration of World No Tobacco Day. The campaign centered around four main strategies: raising public awareness about the dangers of tobacco, promoting the establishment of Tobacco-Free Educational Institutions (ToFEI), strengthening enforcement of Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) 2023, and creating Tobacco-Free Villages. The campaign was a huge success, with over 1,42,184 educational institutions and more than 12,000 villages declared tobacco-free. Additionally, COTPA 2003 was strictly enforced, with numerous challans issued. Source : PIB Related resources Guidelines for Tobacco Free Educational Institution (Revised) Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 (COTPA 2003) Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Amendment Rules, 2023