Ramakrishna and his clarion call
It was 10 in the morning. At the Vedanta Math, Siliguri, a middleaged man came up to me and explained that he runs an NGO to spread awareness about cancer.
Striving to tackle drug menace, NGO Shimla Nagrik Sabha organised a seminar, “Drug menace and its side effects on society” in Shimla on Tuesday. The seminar was inaugurated by Social Worker and Pechan Women Welfare Society, president Bindu Joshi.
Inaugurating the seminar, Bindu Joshi said that the drug abuse has become a major problem in the society. The youth of the country today is in the grip of drug addiction and India tops amongst the Asian countries in drug abuse, which was extremely worrisome, she claimed.
“In Himachal Pradesh, drug abuse is also at the peak and due to this addiction, the youth are in peril. To combat this problem, the involvement of government, administration and social institutions is necessary. The government has to make a concerted effort to deal with this,” she asserted.
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Shimla Nagrik Sabha president, Vijender Mehra said that 2.8 per cent of the prisoners lodged in jails across the country are behind bars owing to the illicit trade, whereas, this figure in HP is 7.7 per cent which is 5 per cent higher than the National average. A study reveals that more than 40 per cent of the students studying at the senior secondary school in Shimla city are in the grip of drugs, he claimed.
“This is extremely worrisome. Shimla city is already facing dearth of playgrounds, sports stadiums, parks, libraries, youth clubs, cultural centers due to which the youth are falling prey to drug menace. To tackle drunk, the government needs to create concrete policy for youth, sports and education,” he said.
A delegation of Shimla Nagrik Sabha along with other organisations will soon meet the state government on this issue and demand for a stringent policy, he added. SNS Secretary, Kapil Sharma has said that their organisation will launch a drive and also appealed the state government to take strict action the drug mafia in the state.
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