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Registered
Office
T-7, 1st Floor,
Green Park Extension,
New Delhi (India)– 110 016
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Working Office
C-1/52, 3rd Floor,
Safdarjung Development Area
New Delhi-110 016, India
Phone: 91-11-26850342, 41031191
Fax: 91-11-26850331
info@hriday-shan.org
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| GET INVOLVED |
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HRIDAY–SHAN model ensures that health information diffuses through the school, from a few Student Peer Leaders to the whole student community, and from the school into family and community settings. By adding advocacy by the youth on policy issues related to health, the model extends the outreach to the whole nation and transforms knowledge into social change - a process led by the youth and on issues owned by them.
Youth health activists of HRIDAY-SHAN in Delhi have successfully mobilized the community by creating three advocacy groups, TAT (Teachers Against Tobacco), PAT (Parents Against tobacco) and SAT (Students Against Tobacco). These three groups support and guide youth in their tobacco control advocacy campaigns.
Advocacy Efforts Undertaken By HRIDAY-SHAN Student Representatives Since 1998
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- Intra and inter school debates on banning tobacco advertising as a first step to developing a youth advocacy platform for a comprehensive tobacco control programme.
- Signature campaign by 25000 school students along with an appeal to the Prime Minister of India to impose a complete ban on all forms of tobacco advertising (September 1998). This appeal was also mailed to all the Members of Parliament (MPs), whereby it was subsequently acknowledged and appreciated by the policy makers.
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Student's Parliament on Health |
An innovative advocacy tool- the Student’s Parliament On Health, was organized by HRIDAY-SHAN in 2001 at New Delhi. The education process involved emulating eminent adult role models (Parliamentarians). Individual students were assigned specific roles of Parliamentarians and Ministers. The aim was to place the students in apposition of responsibility and decision making; develop leadership skills among youth; catalyze informed health activism; familiarize students with the procedural aspects of parliamentary functioning and enable them to engage in advocacy of health issues.
The widely acclaimed success of this strategy, brought an extension of this advocacy tool, to other parts of India, with an encouraging support from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the World Health Organisation. Consequently, an ‘All India Student’s Parliament on Health’ was organized to mobiles school students of 10 cities in India for youth advocacy on tobacco control and other health related issues.
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Advocacy Efforts by HRIDAY- SHAN to support the Indian Tobacco Control Bill in 2003 |
- HRIDAY-SHAN in Delhi took the lead in organizing advocacy campaigns to support the passage of “Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution)” Bill, in the Parliament in April 2003. Under the guiding lamp of HRIDAY-SHAN, students assured their support for successful implementation of anti-tobacco act. They also assured that they will work to generate further media interest on the issue.
- Letters of support and affirmation statements to the Union Health Minister, on behalf of an NGO coalition to campaign for the passage of tobacco control bill in the Indian Parliament in 2003. It highlighted advocacy efforts undertaken for the first time by a coalition of Indian NGOs to directly advocate with policy makers to gather support for The Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Bill, 2003. This campaign employed various advocacy strategies that have paved the road for future tobacco control activists to follow.
- Letters of appreciation from International organizations (Framework Convention Alliance, American Cancer Society and World Bank) were released to the Indian Press by HRIDAY- SHAN.
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| Advocacy Efforts by HRIDAY- SHAN to support the Indian Tobacco Control Bill in 2004-2005 |
- Ensuring early notification of all rules under the Act- Signature campaign to support health warnings on tobacco packs, 2004: HRIDAY-SHAN collaborated with PATH-Canada (now called Health Bridge) to organize an advocacy campaign, to push the government to notify rules related to pictorial health warnings on tobacco product packages, as prescribed in the Act. Youth advocates presented postcards bearing suggested pictorial health warnings on tobacco related diseases to the Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, along with signatures from 20,000 school students requesting for early notification of rules pertaining to this provision in the Indian Tobacco Control Act, 2003.
- Youth led advocacy campaigns in support of Ministry of Health’s decision to ban depiction of tobacco use in Indian films and tele-serials, 2005: As the MOHFW decided to expand the scope of the regulations pertaining to tobacco promotions to include display of tobacco use in films and teleserials, HRIDAY-SHAN conducted a signature campaign with students, teachers and parents of Delhi and 9 other cities of India. These signatures were compiled and presented to the MOHFW to use as support documents in filing a legal response by the lawyers of the MOHFW to the case filed by a Director in Bollywood, Mr. Mahesh Bhatt, challenging this legislation introduced by MOHFW.
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| Other Advocacy Efforts Undertaken to Support the Indian Tobacco Control Bill |
- Counter Advertisement: Awareness material (clarifying the concerns raised by the tobacco industry related to the Indian Tobacco Control Bill) for Members of Parliament (MPs) were developed at Delhi and sent to all MPs.
- Representations from youth groups: Youth Activists under HRIDAY-SHAN banner sent appeals to the MPs to support Indian Tobacco Control Act 2003 in the Parliament to protect their future health.
- Student activists of SHAN submitted a pledge to the Union Health Minister, Dr.Anbumani Ramadoss, affirming their commitment to adopt healthy living habits and to promote them among other community members.
- Students appealed to the Health Minister to help them make and maintain healthy lifestyle choices through policies which strictly regulate tobacco and unhealthy foods, promote healthy foods and make regular physical activity easy to undertake in an urban environment.
- Meeting the President of India on World No Tobacco Day, May 2003: Encouraged and invigorated by the Presidential Assent to the Bill, the HRIDAY-SHAN activists called on the Honourable President of India, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, to thank him for his decisive action. In their appeal to the President, the youth requested him to share his vision of a Tobacco Free India with the people of the country and further demanded a prohibition on depiction of tobacco products in Indian films, which were being used as attractive channels for advertising and promotion of tobacco products. The advocacy campaigns took a new turn with the enactment of the Act in 2004. HRIDAY youth representatives prepared to take on the role of monitoring the enforcement of this legislation.
- Indian Youth Fight Against Films Projecting Tobacco Use: Student representatives of HRIDAY-SHAN appealed to the Central Board of Film Certification for complete ban on projection of tobacco use and brand identification of tobacco products in Indian films, to mark ‘The International Day of Action’ by the Smoke Free Movies Network.
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