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Lucknow. Uttar Pradesh has once again secured the first position in the country under the National Tobacco Control Program (NTCP), which is being run with the aim of making people aware about the ill effects of tobacco and keeping the youth away from tobacco consumption. Maximum number of people participated in Uttar Pradesh during the year 2025-26 in the online 'No Tobacco Pledge' campaign organized under the Tobacco Free Youth Campaign 3.0 of the Central Government. In this national list, after Uttar Pradesh, Haryana stood second, Rajasthan third and Delhi fourth.

Uttar Pradesh got the top position for the second consecutive year

This success of Uttar Pradesh in the National Tobacco Control Campaign is being considered the result of effective implementation of the guidelines of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. The state had earlier also secured first position in the country in the online 'No Tobacco Pledge' during the Tobacco Free Youth Campaign 2.0 in the year 2024-25. For the second consecutive year, this achievement has been possible due to the joint efforts of the youth, schools, health department and tobacco control program team of the state.

When did Tobacco Free Youth Campaign 3.0 start?

Tobacco Free Youth Campaign 3.0 was launched on 09 October 2025. This national campaign was conducted with the joint efforts of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The main objective of this campaign is to make the youth aware about the harm of tobacco, make them take an oath not to consume tobacco and create a tobacco free generation.

Awareness programs held in schools and educational institutions

Under the campaign, various activities were organized in schools and educational institutions across the country. These mainly include:

• Awareness program on ill effects of tobacco
• teachers training
• Declaration of tobacco free institutions
• Online 'No Tobacco Pledge' for students and youth

Through these programs the youth were given detailed information about the harms of tobacco and they were motivated to stay away from tobacco.

Large participation of NCC, NSS and students

In Uttar Pradesh, this campaign was made successful with large scale public participation. NCC, NSS, Scout-Guides and students of various educational institutions participated in this campaign in large numbers and took oath not to take tobacco online. Along with this, many services and counseling programs were also run to help people give up tobacco addiction.

Big step towards the goal of tobacco free India

This achievement of Uttar Pradesh is being considered an important milestone in the direction of achieving the Central Government's goal of tobacco-free India. Experts believe that increased participation of youth will help in reducing tobacco use in future and create a healthy society.