TN constitutes state level Nasha Mukt Bharat Campaign committee

The State Government of Tamil Nadu has constituted the State Level Nasha Mukt Bharat Campaign Committee (SLNMBCC) under the national campaign of Nasha Mukta Bharat Campaign, which was launched by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment on Independence Day.

States like Goa and districts like Patiala (Punjab) and Kishtwar (J&K) have also announced the formation of similar committees.

The campaign aims to prevent drug abuse across the country under the Nasha Mukt Bharat: Annual Action Plan (2020-21) for 272 most affected districts. Four of these 272 districts, namely Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli, Namakkal and Theni, fall in Tamil Nadu.

The Action Plan would launch a three-pronged attack combining efforts of the Narcotics Control Bureau, outreach/awareness by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and treatment through the Health Department.

The first meeting of the Tamil Nadu, SLNMBCC is likely to be held early next month and is due to meet once in two months. The state government has reportedly carefully selected members for the committee with diverse backgrounds.

A member of the Tamil Nadu SLNMBCC said, “It is a positive approach of the central government and immediately brought into the action by the state government towards a social cause. Since cough syrups containing codeine combinations, pain killers like pentazocine  injections, tranquilliser tablets, whiteners etc, are some of the key substances of drug abuse across the country, we will be working in collaboration with NGOs to prevent drug abuse and implement the programme across the state.”

According to him, the programme will cover government-approved de-addiction centres as well as private ones. Under the Nasha Mukta Bharat Campaign, the central government will release Rs 10 lakh to each of the vulnerable districts, directly to the concerned district collector. The programme will continue until March 2021.

Accordingly, the Secretary to the government of social welfare and nutritious meal programme department will be chairman of the Tamil Nadu SLNMBCC, followed by other members mainly; a representative of director-general of police, representatives of principal secretary to the government- health and family welfare department, representatives of  Narcotics Control Bureau, representatives of principal secretary to government- higher education department, representatives of principal secretary to government- school education department, additional director of information- Tamil Nadu development and information department, the foundation of infrastructure reconstruction, retired director of state drug controller, retired additional commissioner of labour, retired field officer from the department of social defence, state-level coordinating agency of the ministry of social justice, state co-ordinator of PMU of social justice and commissioner of social defence.

The committee will be involved in framing the below-mentioned activities;

1) formulating a state campaign activity under the Nasha Mukta Bharat Campaign
2) ensuring formulation and implementation of the district level Nasha Mukt Campaign in identified vulnerable districts in the state
3) guiding and overseeing the implementation of district-level Nasha Mukt Campaign
4) to increase community participation and public cooperation
5) conducting training programmes for the service providers at state, district and below district level
6) strategising social media strategy for the state campaign and implementation of the state
7) obtaining information on the availability /sale of drugs and review action taken on such information
8) visit the institutions, hospitals for assessment of preparedness and implementation
9) ensuring strict implementation of the ban on the sale of cigarettes within 100 metres of any educational institutions

The Nasha Mukta Bharat Campaign is the existing scheme for drug de-addiction which has converged into the National Action Plan for Drug Demand Reduction (NAPDDR) under the combined efforts of the central, state/UT Governments.

The objective is to create awareness generation programmes, focus on higher educational institutions, university campuses and schools, community outreach and identification of dependent populations, focus on treatment facilities in hospital settings and capacity building programmes for the service provider.

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