Posters bearing a warning about levy of penalty for violating anti-smoking regulations and about the harmful effects of tobacco consumption are found outside most shops in Naguvanahalli village.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Situated around 14 km from Mysuru, Naguvanahalli is like any other village in the Cauvery belt, nestled amid agricultural fields. Only, none of the 14 shops in this village of 2,250 people sells cigarettes, beedis or any other tobacco products. They sport posters and pictorial warnings against smoking and tobacco consumption.
Other villages
Naguvanahalli, in Srirangapatna taluk of Mandya district, is among a handful of villages across Karnataka — about 25 in all — that have been declared “tobacco-free” in the wake of the State Anti-Tobacco Cell calling upon the District Tobacco Control Cells to work towards declaring at least one village in each taluk tobacco-free. Panchayat Development Officer T. Mahalakshmi feels that the village had managed to achieve a fair degree of voluntary compliance, thanks to the efforts of the residents and its elected representatives.
Among other examples, a cluster of 21 villages in Suggenahalli Gram Panchayat in Ramanagaram district too had been declared tobacco-free. This cluster has a combined population of 8,600 and 67 shops that are tobacco-free. There are three villages in Mandya district, including Chikkarasanakere and Chagashettihalli, besides Kodi Bengre in Udupi district, that also sport the tobacco-free tag.
“We are not saying that there are no smokers in Suggenahalli. We are only saying there is no sale of tobacco products in this village and people are committed to quit,” clarified Chandrashekar, a social worker with Ramanagaram District Tobacco Control Cell.
The District Tobacco Control Cells are only facilitators, while it is the gram panchayats that enjoy the power to ban the sale of tobacco products by withdrawing the licences to vendors, said a source in the State Anti-Tobacco Control Cell.
Saying it with roses
The initiative in Naguvanahalli began about a year before the village was declared tobacco-free last year. After a survey by the Health Department revealed that 10.7% of the 2,250 people in the village were using tobacco, the District Tobacco Control Cell officials, led by its consultant S.N. Thimmaraju, along with Asha workers launched a “Gulabi Andolana” by approaching shops and smokers with roses to convince them about the health hazards of smoking.
Finally, when a decision was taken by the gram panchayat to declare the village tobacco-free, shopkeepers were given 15 days’ time to exhaust their stock of all tobacco products, said Kempe Gowda, a health inspector working in Naguvanahalli. The Health Department not only organises street plays and ‘rangoli’ competitions against consumption of tobacco, but also distributes nicotine lozenges to smokers for free.
Schools roped in
Students of the government primary school in Naguvanahalli too have been roped in to keep their village tobacco-free. “Smokers often sent their children to fetch cigarettes or beedis from shops. So, we are educating children about the threat to healthy living from tobacco consumption by holding drawing competitions and plays so that they can influence their elders,” said Ms. Sowbhagya, who teaches in the Government school in Naguvanahalli.