Gariphema Village under Kohima district of Nagaland Saturday became the first village in the country which has declared the entire village area as “tobacco free village” with the initiative of the village council, village vision cell and village students’ union during the observation of “World No Tobacco Day.”
The declaration was read by the chief guest of the function and principal secretary for irrigation, flood control and PHED Nagaland R. Benchilo Thong. The function held at the Gariphema village council hall. Gariphema village passed resolution that whoever sold alcohol, biri, paan, tamul, gutka (alcohol & smokeless tobacco) and trade mark with “injurious to health” or whoever got drunk and disturbed peaceful environment would be imposed a fine of Rs. 1000 and consuming of alcohol, biri, paan, tamul (smokeless tobacco) on the street and public place be fined Rs. 500.
The chief guest in his address said that currently Gariphema village was the only village in the country to have banned tobacco and declared the entire village tobacco free in any form, along with selling any form of alcohol, biddi, paan, tamul, gutka and all other substance that was injurious for health.
Thong said Gariphema has shown a great example to the other villages not only of Nagaland but also other regions of the country.
He congratulated the Gariphema students’ union, village council and village vision cell for taking such a bold step and appealed the other villages of the country to take such a step. He also urged the villagers to strictly follow the declaration.
The resource person deputy director of national tobacco control Dr. M. C. Longai also spoke on the overview scenario of the bad effects of tobacco use. He said in Nagaland 67.9% male and 28.1 % female consumed tobacco and pointed out that Nagaland and Mizoram were in the top list of cancer prevalence states in India.
Citing the danger of consuming tobacco, Dr. M. C. Longai said tobacco contained more than 4000 chemicals several of which could cause cancer and were dangerous to health.
He said tobacco killed people more than AIDS and globally it killed 5.4 million people every year and in India alone 8-9 lakhs die every year. He disclosed that over 2200 Indians die every day due tobacco use and also that 40% of all cancers in India were caused due to tobacco use while 90% oral cancers were tobacco related. India has the highest number of oral cancer cases in the world, said the doctor.
Dr. M. C. Longai said smoking caused wrinkle, obesity, affected blood circulation and diabetes patients, low birth rate,and many other diseases. He said India was the 2nd largest consumer and the 3rd largest producer of tobacco in the world.
Earlier, the programme was led by Er. Duonei-u Pielie president GVSU, invocation prayer by Rev. Thekruzhii Khana pastor NCRC Gariphema, welcome note was delivered by Vibeilietuo Kets convenor village vision cell, special song by Thehiechiituo Kire while vote of thanks was proposed by Dziesevi Pielie. Students, villagers, student leaders, public leaders of neighbouring villages and others attended the programme.
It may be mentioned that Grariphema village council had passed the resolution on February 10, 1993 and banned the selling of intoxicants in the village.
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