The committee is disappointed to note that despite several attempts made by the department, it has not been able to conduct a nation-wide survey to assess the recent trend, pattern and extent of drug abuse in the country.
India’s drug abuse statistics are over 15 years old, and despite claims of starting a national-level survey with the help of AIIMS, the Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry is still looking for an “agency” to help conduct the survey.
Without the numbers, the nature of the problem will be difficult to gauge. Now, a parliamentary committee has taken the ministry to task over its nonchalant attitude. In its action-taken report, the Lok Sabha committee has slammed the Social Justice Ministry over its inactivity.
“The committee is disappointed to note that despite several attempts made by the department, it has not been able to conduct a nation-wide survey to assess the recent trend, pattern and extent of drug abuse in the country. The department in its action-taken reply has informed that it is still in the process of finalising an agency for conducting the survey,” reads the report of the committee, headed by MP Ramesh Bias.
In its reply, the ministry said that it received a proposal from the National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre (NDDTC) of AIIMS in July 2015 for conducting a survey. “They had informed that they would conduct the survey in collaboration with Regional Medical Institutes, RRTCs and district-level agencies etc. However, it has now been decided that the work relating to the national survey may be awarded through the tendering process. The ministry is in the process of finalising an agency for conducting the national survey," read the government’s reply.
The ministry was also pulled up for the lack of de-addiction centres. “The committee further noted that there were no IRCAs in Tripura, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dadar and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, and Lakshadweep. The committee was surprised to note that there was not a single beneficiary in the states of Goa and Jharkhand and six Union Territories under the (drug rehabilitation) scheme,” the parliamentary committee's report noted, adding that that there are no de-addiction centres in Goa, Jharkhand and the six Union Territories.
The committee further noted that there are only four exclusive de-addiction centres for women, while there was not a single centre for juveniles battling drug addiction.
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