Nasha Mukt Bharat

Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment which is the Nodal Ministry for Drug Demand Reduction has formulated and launched Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan (NMBA) on 15th August 2020.

Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyan focuses on 372 most affected districts and launch a three-pronged attack combining efforts of Narcotics Bureau, Outreach /Awareness by Social Justice and Treatment through the Health Department.

Extent and Pattern of Substance Use in India:

• The Ministry has conducted the first National Survey on Extent and Pattern of Substance Use in India through the National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre (NDDTC) of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi during 2018.
• As per the report, Alcohol is the most common psychoactive substance used by Indians followed by Cannabis and Opioids.
• About 16 Crore persons consume alcohol in the country; more than 5.7 Crore individuals are affected by harmful or dependent alcohol use and need help for their alcohol use problems
• 3.1 Crore individuals use cannabis products; about 25 lakh suffer from cannabis dependence
• 2.26 Crore use opioids; approximately 77 lakh individuals are required help for their opioid use problems

Components

The Action Plan has the following components:

• Awareness generation programmes
• Focus on higher educational Institutions, university campuses and schools
• Reaching out into the Community and identifying dependent population
• Focus on counseling and treatment facilities in hospitals and rehabilitation centres which have been geo-tagged
• Capacity building programmes for a service providers

Districts to be covered

Based on the finding of the National Survey on Extent and Pattern of Substance Use in India and list of districts which are vulnerable from the supply point of view provided by Narcotics Control Bureau, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment would undertake intervention programmes in vulnerable districts across the country with an aim to:

• Reach out to Children and Youth for awareness about ill effect of drug use;
• Increase community participation and public cooperation;
• Supporting Government Hospitals for opening up De- addiction Centers in addition to existing Ministry Supported De-addiction Centers (IRCAs); and
• Conducting Training programme for participants.

The Ministry has also set up a 24x7 National Toll Free drug de-addiction helpline number 14446 to help the victims of drug abuse, their family and society at large.

To view the list of districts, click here.

To view more details, click here.

Source : Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment