By Atharva Pandit and Gargi Kowli:
[envoke_twitter_link]The Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) was passed in 2003 by the Parliament of India[/envoke_twitter_link]. It was passed in the hope that restrictions imposed on the consumption of cigarettes would, in turn, function in discouraging non-smokers from smoking and perhaps even drive some smokers to quit. Clause 6 of the Act further went on to note that the consumption and/or sale of cigarettes and tobacco products near college campuses could influence its use among students and thus proposed that their consumption and/or sale be banned within a 100 meter radius of an educational institution.
Twelve years after the law was passed, and some general observations later, Atharva Pandit, Campus Watch Correspondent for Youth Ki Awaaz and Gargi Kowli- a second Year student at Ramnarain Ruia College in Mumbai, came to the conclusion that the clause remains to be implemented fully, and is generally being ignored. We conducted a short video survey in order to understand whether the students in general are aware of the existence of such a law and then asked their opinions on it.
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