About the Campaign

• The ‘Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan’ or the ‘Drugs-Free India Campaign’ was flagged off on 15th August 2020 by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. 
• The Nasha Mukt Bharat Annual Action Plan for 2020-21 focuses on 272 districts in 32 states & UT’s which are identified as most vulnerable in terms of usage of drugs and launches a three-pronged attack combining efforts of the Narcotics Bureau, Outreach/Awareness by Social Justice and Treatment through the Health Department.

Components of the action plan

• Awareness generation programmes;
• Focus on Higher Educational institutions, University Campuses and Schools;
• Community outreach and identification of dependent population;
• Focus on Treatment facilities in Hospital settings; and
• Capacity Building Programmes for Service Providers.

Need of the programme

• The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment 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.

Why in the news?

• The Government of India dedicated a batch of 25 Addiction Treatment Facilities (ATFs) under the Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan.

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1897765