By Jag Mohan Thaken
As per Media reports, on October 24, 2025 a video reportedly floated on social media, the footage of which went viral on Thursday, shows several girls covering their faces with scarves, entering the shop, purchasing liquor, and leaving briskly with bottles tucked discreetly into their school bags in Nainpur town under Mandla district of Madhya Pradesh.
For a country like India, what a disturbing and astonishing incident it is, wherein even the school girls are noticed purchasing the liquor!
Another incident which shows the most dreadful and shameful face of drug menace has been reported by Leader of opposition in Punjab Vidhan Sabha, Pratap Singh Bajwa on 25th October. Bajwa highlighted that in a gut-wrenching incident that exposes the horrifying depths of Punjab’s drug crisis, a drug-addict couple from Mansa district sold their five-month-old son to a family in Budhlada for Rs 1.8 lakh — just to fund their addiction.
“In 2022, the central government submitted a report to the Supreme Court that an alarming 15.8 million youths between the ages of 10 and 17 battle substance addiction nationwide. Based on findings from a court-mandated research study, alcoholic beverages rank as the primary mind-altering substance consumed by the population, with marijuana and opioid-based drugs following behind”, The New Indian Express in an Article on March 30, 2025 reported.
It is despite the National Centre for Drug Abuse Prevention underscores on its website that Drug abuse is a serious problem having dangerous consequences and recognizing the seriousness of the multi-faceted implications of the incidence of substance abuse in the country, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has been implementing various steps.
Also, in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha on March 18, 2025, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs Nityanand Rai told that to address the problem of Drug Abuse, Government has formulated and implemented the National Action Plan for Drug Demand Reduction (NAPDDR) under which the Government is taking a sustained and coordinated action for arresting the problem of substance abuse. This includes: Launched Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan (NMBA) in all districts of the country through more than 10000 master volunteers. It has reached out to more-than 14.79 crore people including 4.96 crore youth and 2.97 crore women.
Despite the central government’s launching ‘Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan’ (NMBA) in all districts of the country, why has India not succeeded in curbing this evil? Why was the evil not nipped in the bud? Why as per ground reports, the situation is still so alarming? Here we will discuss the situation in agrarian states-Punjab and Haryana, just as samples.
However, the Aam Adami Party ruled Punjab government has been running its ‘YUDH NASHIAN VIRUDH’ (Battle against drugs) campaign since long and on October 26, the date of writing these lines, this drive has completed its 239th day.
A government press release claims that continuing the war against drugs “Yudh Nashian Virudh” waged by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann to eradicate drug menace from state consecutively for the 239th day, Punjab Police conducted raids at 261 locations on Sunday leading to the arrest of 66 drug smugglers after registration of 57 first information reports (FIRs) across the state. With this, the number of total drug smugglers arrested has reached 34, 175 in 239 days.
However, its appreciable action and step of the Punjab government, but also exposes the ground situation of the state that how deep the roots of drug menace are. The figure of total drug smugglers arrested has reached 34, 175 in 239 days shows the seriousness and gravity of the problem.
Despite strenuous efforts of the state government to hammer the problem, the opposition party, Congress, alleges that Punjab continues to face the worst-ever drug crisis, and the Chief Minister Mann keeps boasting about ending it.
The drug menace is not “under control” — it’s out of control, spreading like a plague through our villages, consuming generation after generation, alleged the Leader of the Opposition Bajwa.
Bajwa came down heavily on Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann accusing him of wilfully ignoring the drug menace. Bajwa highlighted that in a gut-wrenching incident that exposes the horrifying depths of Punjab’s drug crisis, a drug-addict couple from Mansa district sold their five-month-old son to a family in Budhlada for Rs 1.8 lakh — just to fund their addiction.
Bajwa stated that the mother was once a state-level wrestler. She and her husband, both enslaved by drugs, sold their baby to keep their next high going. This is not fiction. This is the reality of Punjab in 2025.
“While Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and his government shamelessly parade hollow promises about “eliminating drugs, ” Punjab’s families are being destroyed, children are sold like cattle, and villages decay in the shadow of addiction. Every such incident is a damning indictment of this administration: a system that has utterly failed to prevent addiction, failed to protect children, and failed—repeatedly—to uphold the most basic tenets of humanity, ” Bajwa thundered.
The Congress party in Haryana also alleges that drug menace is growing rapidly in the state.
The General Secretary of All India Congress Committee, former Union Minister, and Sirsa MP Kumari Selja, in a press statement on October 13, said that the BJP government is not serious about the growing drug menace in Haryana. Kumari Selja said that the government has blindly trusted the official figures presented by officers while the reality is that cases of drug overdose and drug-related deaths are being reported daily in various districts. Out of the 22 districts in the state, 16 have been severely affected by drug addiction, with Sirsa being the worst hit, where drug-related deaths continue to rise.
Drugs have now reached the villages from synthetic drugs to ‘Chitta, ’ every form of addiction is spreading rapidly. The Haryana government has completely failed to control the drug menace.
Kumari Selja said that the fast-spreading drug network in Dabwali and nearby areas has engulfed the entire region, and in the last 40 days, 15 young lives have been lost, which reflects the frightening ground reality. She said it is “deeply unfortunate that drugs are being sold openly at medical stores while both the BJP government and the district administration remain silent spectators.”
Kumari Selja said that there are about 1, 700 medical stores in Sirsa district alone, but the number of officers and inspectors is extremely low. Kumari Selja said that without regular inspections, the sale of medical drugs as narcotics cannot be stopped. The government claims that 162 de-addiction centres are functioning in Haryana, and 3, 350 villages and about 900 urban wards have been declared drug-free, including around 180 villages in Sirsa, but the ground reality tells a different story.
“Conduct high-level inspections of all medical stores. Take strict action against those selling or protecting drug peddlers. Transform the anti-drug campaign into a people’s movement”, advised Selja. She said the rising number of drug-related deaths is not just a statistic, it reflects the government’s insensitivity and the failure of our entire system.
Concludingly, it seems that the present efforts are not efficient and sufficient. It needs a heavy hammer blow. To protect children and youth from addiction, awareness programs must be launched at schools, colleges, universities, other educational institutions and village level social platforms. Concrete steps are urgently needed to curb drug trafficking and illegal sales across the country. Will the governments and the society adopt a joint effective and forceful strategy to get rid of this blot?