National Service Scheme (NSS) in West Bengal has launched the ‘Pledge for Life-Tobacco Free Youth’ campaign to address huge public health issues caused by tobacco consumption. A workshop was organized by the NSS Regional Director Dr. SaritaPateltoday at Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Narendrapur in Kolkatawith technical support by Sambandh HealthFoundation(SHF)andNarayanaSuperspecialityHospital, Howrah. This workshop hadNSS Program Coordinators and Program Officers along with student volunteers of various colleges of West Bengal. Duringtheworkshop,theNarayanaSuperspecialityHospital, Howrah, Consultant, Head Neck Cancer Surgeon and Voice of Tobacco Victims (VoTV) patron DrApurvaGarg informed the audience about disastrous impact of tobacco use. He shared that he gets so many young patients in their OPDs diagnosed with oral cancers due to tobacco. Some cancer survivors and theirfamilies also narrated the trauma and suffering which they had to undergo due to tobacco-induced disease. The NSS participants were disturbed by the plight of the families and disruption to theirlives.He further added that tobacco usage causes 90% of oral &lung cancers which leads to fatalities, major loss of quality of life, trauma and financial ruin for the family. Unfortunately more than 50% of oral cancer victims who undergo surgery do not survive more than one year. Prevention is betterthancure–NSScancontributesignificantly inpreventing the youth from tobacco addiction.” Swami SarvalokanandaMaharaj. Secretary, Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Narendrapur, Kolkata said gave his blessings to have a tobacco and cancer free West Bengal. MrsSaritaPatel,RegionalDirector,NSSKolkata,Government of India said :-"It is quite evident that a huge portion of mankind is now affected by the frequent use of tobacco. Tobacco use has gradually started to spread among the youth which is very harmful. It is expected from the youth that they should stop themselves to be addicted by tobacco and create awareness among the mass not to use the tobacco item". In the workshop, all the participants took a pledge that they will never touch tobacco and will encourage family, friends and others not to do so either. In addition, they have have developed an action plan under the Pledge For Life campaign for the year 2019-20, which will see students, NSS Volunteers conducting willbeanti-tobaccoactivities suchaspledgeagainst tobacco,specialcamps,debate/essaycompetitions,streetplays etc. “It is a great initiative by the NSS for a social cause of protecting our young generations from addictions. West Bengal has more than 1000 Units with over 1 lac volunteers. Energy of these volunteers will definitely reduce the number of deaths caused due to tobacco, which is the singlemost preventable cause of death known, worldwide.” An action plan was made for NSS activities for the academic year 2019-2020, which includes tobacco free oath for all students, NSS Rural camps, various activities and competitions. As per Global Adults Tobacco Survey, 2.39 crore people in West Bengal use tobacco in form of smoking and chewing; it has a major health impact on users and non-users; 1.5 lakh users die annually due to diseases attributed to tobacco and 438 children are introduced to tobacco every day.