On August 15, 2020, the State Governments and the 272 District Collectors launched a seven-month-long anti-drugs campaign namely “Nasha Mukt Bharat” or “Drug-Free India” by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (SJE) which will run till March 31, 2021. In order to give impetus to this launch, Union Minister of SJE Thaawarchand Gehlot addressed 272 district collectors, 31 State Secretaries as well as doctors, NGOs (non-government organizations) and Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officers through videoconferencing.
- During the address, the minister also launched four Campaign Posters.
- Notably, the financial allocation of Rs. 43 crore in 2017 has been enhanced to Rs. 260 crore in 2020 to curb drug abuse and illicit trafficking.
Key Points:
-These 272 districts have been identified based on the inputs received from NCB and the findings on the comprehensive National survey done by the Ministry.
-District and State level Nasha Mukt Bharat Committees formed would devise a strategy and Action plan for the campaign.
-The campaign will include awareness generation, focus on schools and colleges, community outreach, focus on treatment facilities at hospitals and capacity-building for service providers.
Participants: Ministers of State (MoS) for Social Justice and Empowerment (SJ&E) Krishan Pal Gurjar, Ram Das Athawale and Rattan Lal Kataria also addressed the videoconferencing. Secretary, M/o SJ&E R. Subrahmanyam, Joint Secretary, M/o SJ&E Radhika Chakravarthy were also present.
Thaawarchand Gehlot e-inaugurate new building of National Institute of Social Defence
The union minister also inaugurated a building of the National Institute of Social Defence (NISD) in Dwarka, New Delhi during the videoconferencing.
- The building will serve as the nodal training and research centre for its three main divisions, namely National Centre for Drug Abuse Prevention (NCDAP), Old Age Care Division and Social Defence.
Recent Related News:
A week long Exhibition-cum-Fair, the first “EKAM Fest” organized by National Handicapped Finance Development Corporation (NHFDC) under M/o SJ&E R held in New Delhi from 2nd March to 9th March 2020. EKAM, an acronym for Entrepreneurship, Knowledge, Awareness, Marketing, was aimed to showcase products made with extraordinary determination by the divyang (differently-abled) crafts persons and entrepreneurs.
