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The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment will approach the State governments to conduct surveys in their respective areas to ascertain factual position about the prevalence of drug and alcohol abuse in their respective areas. This was stated by the Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Shrimati Meira Kumar while addressing the meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to her Ministry to discuss drug and alcohol abuse prevention here on Wednesday evening. Sharing the Members’ deep concern over the problem having assumed gigantic proportions, Smt. Kumar said that her Ministry has adopted a holistic approach for drug demand reduction by way of convergence of advocacy, prevention and rehabilitation programmes of all government and non-government activities. Smt. Kumar said the Ministry is assisting financially 441Rehabilitation cum Counseling and Awareness Centres. These centres are run by around 361 voluntary organisations all over the country. She said that the SJ&E Ministry has introduced several measures to effect greater transparency in the release of funds to NGOs. These include e-payments / telegraphic transfers of grants-in-aid directly to the bank accounts of the NGOs and e-submission of half-yearly progress reports by the NGOs to the Ministry. Smt. Kumar said that the Ministry officials have also been directed to carry out spot inspections of the NGOs to ensure delivery of services. She said 75 NGOs have been inspected so far during the year. The Minister said that the Members, as demanded by them, would be provided with the details of NGOs to ascertain their functioning through their own sources.
The Members called for an effective coordination with the state governments to curb drug and alcohol consumption. They said the Ministry should take up with the state governments the issue as they try to maximize their earnings through excise revenue on alcohol. They called for stepping up vigilance around educational institutions to check drug abuse. They said that the National Survey on Drug Abuse undertaken in collaboration with the UNODC and ILO does not reflect the real picture on the ground.
The Members of Parliament S/Shri Mohan Jena, Radhey Shyam Kori, Jesudasu Seelam, Dharam Pal Sabharwal, B.K. Hariprasad and Pyarimohan Mohapatra participated in the meeting. The Social Justice and Empowerment Secretary, Smt. Sarita Prasad and other senior officials took part. It is estimated that there are about 6.25 crore alcohol users, 87 lakhs cannabis users and 2 lakh opiate users in the country. The abuse prevalance of various drugs is uneven in the country. A high level of alcohol abuse was reported from the North East and Northern regions, high cannabis use from North East and Eastern regions and high opiate use in North East, North and Western region.
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