Tobacco, in addition to affecting health, affects the environment too. In fact, for this year's World No Tobacco Day ( on May 31st), WHO's theme was- 'Tobacco: a threat to our environment'. 

Tobacco cultivation causes deforestation as well as soil degradation, making the soil unfit for growing other crops and vegetables. The tobacco industry also contributes 84 megatons of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, giving a boost to global warming.

India is the second-largest producer of tobacco in the world, where about 40 lakh hectares of land are used in its cultivation.

The government of India has taken steps to make the youth addiction-free, however now is the time to impose a complete ban on the production and sale of tobacco, for the sake of our people and for our land.