NASHA MUKT BHARAT ABHIYAAN (Syllabus: GS Paper 2 – Government Schemes)

Context: Recently, the Department of Social Justice & Empowerment signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in New Delhi to collaborate on the Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan (NMBA).

Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan

• Ministry: Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment
• Launch Year: 2020
• Implementing Body: Department of Social Justice & Empowerment
• Objectives: Creating awareness about substance abuse through activities such as awareness generation programs, targeting schools and universities, identifying dependent populations in communities, etc.

Steps taken by the government to fight drug addiction:

• National Action Plan for Drug Demand Reduction: The Ministry of Social Justice and empowerment prepared this for the period of 2018-25. This plan focuses on: 

oPreventive education 

oAwareness generation 

oIdentification, counselling, treatment and rehabilitation of drug dependent persons 

oTraining and capacity building of service providers through collaborative efforts of government and NGOs. 

• National Fund for Control of Drug Abuse: It was created in accordance with a provision of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985.

oAim: To combat illicit trafficking of narcotics, rehabilitating addicts, and preventing drug abuse.

Status of Drug Trafficking in India

• According to World Drug Report 2022: India is one of the world’s largest opiate markets in terms of users and is vulnerable to increased supply from Afghanistan.
• India is located between the two largest Opium producing regions of the world;
• Golden triangle on the eastern side: Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam and Laos.
• Golden crescent on the North-Western side: Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran.