May 31, 15.47 PM IST || Pocket News Alert
Over 400 students and their families raise awareness on the ill-effects of tobacco by marching from MG Road to Freedom Park
Bengaluru, May 31, 2016: On the World No Smoking Day, Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics (MAAC)—the leader in animation, VFX, multimedia and gaming organized a walkathon to raise awareness on the ill-effects of tobacco. Over 400 students, their families and anti-tobacco advocates marched from MG Road Metro Station to Freedom Park.
Smoking kills over one million people in India annually and is the fourth leading cause of non-communicable diseases (NCD) such as cancer and heart diseases, which account for 53 per cent of all deaths in India. Moreover, according to the recent data on cigarette consumption in India by the Ministry of Health found that while the population of tobacco users has been declining slowly, the number of women smokers has seen a surge. India is now home to the second largest number of female smokers after the United States.
Though Karnataka has a lower tobacco consumption rate than the national average of 35 per cent, a recent survey conducted by the Union Health Ministry revealed that the average age of a person using tobacco in the state is less than 19 years.
During the walkathon, the students also actively informed people about passive smoking. The experts estimate over 10 per cent of tobacco related deaths is caused due to passive smoking. A person who smokes heavily indoors creates a low-lying smoke cloud that other householders have no choice but to breathe. This means that when a parent smokes indoor, the other members of the family are also exposed to compounds such as ammonia, Sulphur and formaldehyde present in the smoke exhaled that irritates eyes, nose, throat and lungs and may lead to serious health hazard.
Mr. Shajan Samuel, Sr. Vice President, MAAC, said, “Globally, smoking and tobacco use is declining. Despite initiatives from the government to curb tobacco use, reports suggest that there are still gaps to be filled. During the march we realized that many people still are unaware about the effects of passive smoking. The fight against tobacco use is an important campaign to which we all should contribute. MAAC students have always taken up issues strongly and contributed to the causes — be it animation films on road safety, street festival on autism or free stress management workshop for Bangalore Traffic Inspectors.”
About MAAC:
Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics (MAAC) is India’s leading educator in high-end 3D Animation and Visual Effects. Founded in 2001 & a major brand of Aptech Ltd, MAAC has trained over 30000 students across the country. It has over 80 centres with cutting-edge infrastructure in over 40 cities.
MAAC offers industry relevant Career courses on 3D Animation & Visual Effects. It offers Real-life training environment to the students backed by an excellent faculty, infrastructure, and the latest technical educational tools.
MAAC’s students are placed as Modeling Artists, Lighting Artist, Render Artist, Character Animator, Layout Artist , Digital Sculptor, Rigging Artist, FX Artist, Roto Artist, Match Mover, Video Editor, Motion Graphics Artist, Compositors, Visualizes, Content Developers and Pre and Post Production executives in blue chip animation studios and entertainment companies like Prime Focus, Rhythm & Hues Studios, Crest Animation Studios, BIG Animation, Cornershop, EFX, Toonz Animation, DQ Entertainment, Paprikaas Animation Studios, NDTV, Studio 9, Redchillies.VFX, Vaibhav Studios, IBN7, Animax, Pixion and Tata Elxsi Ltd. to name a few.