
Jharkhand to get WHO award for tobacco control
The Hindu
National Tobacco Control Programme was launched in Jharkhand in 2012 when the tobacco prevalence rate in the State was 51.1 per cent
Recognising its efforts in controlling tobacco consumption, the World Health Organization (WHO) has selected Jharkhand for the World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) Award-2022, an official said on Sunday.
Stata Tobacco Control Cell of the Health Department will receive the award on the occasion of World No Tobacco Day in New Delhi on May 31, Jharkhand's nodal officer of National Tobacco Control Programme (NTCP) Lalit Ranjan Pathak told PTI.
"It's a great achievement for Jharkhand, which could be possible only due to political and administrative supports that tobacco control cell has got in implementing the programme," Mr. Pathak said.
NTCP was launched in Jharkhand in 2012 when the tobacco prevalence rate in the State was 51.1 per cent, of which 48 per cent were smokeless users, according to the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS)-1 report.
The GATS-2 report, which was published in 2018, said tobacco users came down to 38.9 per cent in the State, of which 35.4 per cent were smokeless users.
"To bring it further down, Jharkhand initiated a slew of measures between 2018 and 2022," Mr. Pathak said.
The Union Health Ministry, WHO and the dedicated State and district health teams have contributed a lot to reducing tobacco prevalence rate in Jharkhand, he said.

In , the grape capital of India and host of the Simhastha Kumbh Mela every 12 years, environmental concerns over a plan to cut 1,800 trees for the proposed Sadhugram project in the historic Tapovan area have sharpened political fault lines ahead of local body elections. The issue has pitted both Sena factions against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which leads the ruling Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra. While Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Minister and Shiv Sena chief, and Uddhav Thackeray, chief of the Shiv Sena (UBT), remain political rivals, their parties have found rare common ground in Tapovan, where authorities propose clearing trees across 34 acres to build Sadhugram and a MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) hub, as part of a ₹300-crore infrastructure push linked to the pilgrimage.












