Three-day Youth Spiritual Summit to be organised in Varanasi

Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Mansukh Mandaviya on Monday announced a three-day ‘Youth Spiritual Summit’ with the theme of ‘Nasha Mukt Yuva for Viksit Bharat’ to be organised in Varanasi of Uttar Pradesh from July 18.

‘Nasha Mukt Yuva’ is a transformative initiative aimed at empowering the Bharat’s Yuva Shakti and fostering a drug-free society.

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“Youth are the torchbearers of Amrit Kaal – the path to a Viksit Bharat”, underscoring that over 65 per cent of India’s population is under 35, with an average age of just 28 years, making our youth the very driving force of national development,” he, according to a press release, said while addressing a press meet in the national capital.

Echoing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visionary call for a Viksit Bharat by 2047, Mandaviya emphasized that our young generation must lead from the front, not only as beneficiaries but as change makers shaping India’s destiny.

However, he cautioned that substance abuse remains one of the gravest threats confronting our youth, trapping them at a pivotal stage of life and posing a challenge to national progress.

Addressing the issue, the government, in partnership with several NGOs, educational institutions, and spiritual organisations, is launching a holistic, inclusive, and future-oriented anti‑drug campaign, he said.

Central to this effort is the three-day summit along the sacred ‘ghats’ of the river Ganga, where 500 youth delegates drawn from the youth wings of 100 spiritual organisations would come together to introspect, deliberate, and ideate actionable strategies for eradicating drug addiction.

“The summit will pave the way for a massive grassroots movement – Jan Andolan – to identify drug sources, eradicate them at the root, and build a drug-free India,” the minister was quoted as saying in the official document.

The summit’s four plenary sessions would cover: understanding addiction and its impact on youth; dismantling peddler networks and commercial interests; effective campaigning and outreach; and charting a comprehensive commitment toward Nasha Mukt Bharat by 2047.