The Mysuru district Tobacco Control Cell has taken objection to the distribution of laptops sponsored by a cigarette manufacturing company at a recent programme organised by Backward Classes Research Students Forum of the University of Mysore.
The laptops were distributed to about 30 research studentsat the programme attended by a host of dignitaries including Mysuru MP Pratap Simha and University Vice-Chancellor G. Hemantha Kumar on the Manasagangothri campus.
Soon after the programme, a delegation of the tobacco control cell called on University Registrar R. Shivappa at the latter’s office and sought to draw his attention to the reported violation of not only Article 5.3 of World Health Organisation’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) to which India is also a signatory, but also Section 5 of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) 2003.
While Article 5.3 calls on parties to protect publichealth policies from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry, Section 5 prohibits any kind of advertisement, brand promotion and sponsorship of tobacco products.
The cigarette manufacturing company had distributed the laptops as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities.
The representatives of the cell asked the University officials to bear in mind that such lapses do not recur.
They also called upon the university officials to declare all degree colleges and the university as “tobacco free”. The officials were asked to convene a meeting of principals of all colleges in the district and create awareness about the anti-tobacco laws and to declare educational campuses “tobacco free”.
Convenor of Anti-Tobacco Forum of Mysuru district Vasanthkumar Mysoremath took serious objection to the lapse by the university. “It is regrettable that the university officials were not aware of the tobacco control laws in the country”, he said.
