As CBI court holds Babri hearings, temple issue hots up in UP

Lucknow, Jun 4: Almost 25 years after the Babri Masjid was razed in Ayodhya, the spotlight has once again turned on the Ram Janmabhoomi issue in Uttar Pradesh, galvanising the workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party, back in power in the state after 15 years.

Daily hearings at a special CBI court in Lucknow on a case relating to the 1992 demolition of the mosque has put the focus on the temple -- on the back burner for several years -- and party leaders are elated.

BJP leaders are convinced the issue will help the party in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, as the momentum builds up on the building of a Ram Temple in Ayodhya.

"The matter is sub judice. But there is not an iota of political gesturing in the Ram Temple issue. It is a matter of faith and belief," UP BJP chief and deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said.

The BJP, which stormed to power in UP bagging 325 out of 403 assembly seats in March this year, believes that the temple issue will have the people's support.

"Every person wants a Ram Temple to be constructed in Ayodhya. And whenever the courts give a decision on any issue (related to the temple), there is some 'garmaahat' (galvanisation)," BJP national vice-president and Rajya Sabha MP Prabhat Jha said.

On May 30, a special CBI court in Lucknow framed charges against 12 people -- including BJP veterans L K Advani and M M Joshi and Union minister Uma Bharti -- in the demolition case. The Supreme Court had ordered the restoration of a conspiracy charge against them.

The apex court's April 19 directive that the special court "complete the trial and deliver the judgment within a period of two years" from the date of the judgment may overlap with the holding of the 2019 general election, when the temple plank is likely to emerge as an emotive issue.

The temple, UP BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi said, would "certainly have a bearing" on the Lok Sabha polls.

"Our party does not consider the Ayodhya issue as a political one, but the BJP is the only party which has raised this issue, and has even committed to constructing a grand Ram Temple in Ayodhya while staying within the ambit of the Constitution," he said.

State leaders have already upped the ante.

"We know that the Ram Temple in Ayodhya will be built eventually," BJP national vice-president and Rajya Sabha MP Prabhat Jha stressed. "It is a national issue, an issue which is directly linked to crores of countrymen," he said.

On May 31 -- a day after the criminal conspiracy charge was framed against the BJP leaders and others in Lucknow -- UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath prayed at the makeshift Ram Temple in Ayodhya.

He stressed the need for a resolution of the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute through talks. "I want the dispute to be resolved through discussions," he said.

Maurya, too, added that the "best possible way" to resolve the issue would be through "mutual understanding and negotiations".

A day after Adityanath's Ayodhya visit, UP minister Shrikant Sharma said in Ballia a Ram Temple already existed in Ayodhya and all that it needed was a "grand" look.

"The Ram Temple is there in Ayodhya and will remain there. Now it has to be given a grand look," he said.

On May 9, the Uttar Pradesh government endorsed the setting up of two new municipal corporations for Ayodhya- Faizabad and Mathura-Vrindavan. The decision was taken at a meeting of the state cabinet chaired by Adityanath.

The idea was to provide "better amenities" to pilgrims, minister Sharma said. The Ayodhya Municipal Corporation will cover the twin cities of Faizabad and Ayodhya.

In Delhi, plans are afoot for the construction of a Ram- Ramayana museum -- to be located about six kilometres from the disputed Ram Temple site - which, a concept note states, will be like a "grand temple".

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Average age of school children picking up drugs, smoking habit in 10 Indian cities around 13 years!

News Network

December 13,2025

New Delhi: School-going children are picking up drug and smoking habits and engaging in consumption of alcohol, with the average age of introduction to such harmful substances found to be around 13 years, suggesting a need for earlier interventions as early as primary school, a multi-city survey by AIIMS-Delhi said.

The findings also showed substance use increased in higher grades, with grade XI/XII students two times more likely to report use of substances when compared with grade VIII students. This emphasised the importance of continued prevention and intervention through middle and high school.

The study led by Dr Anju Dhawan of AIIMS's National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre, published in the National Medical Journal of India this month, looks at adolescent substance use across diverse regions.

The survey included 5,920 students from classes 8, 9, 11 and 12 in urban government, private and rural schools across 10 cities -- Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Delhi, Dibrugarh, Hyderabad, Imphal, Jammu, Lucknow, Mumbai, and Ranchi. The data were collected between May 2018 and June 2019.

The average age of initiation for any substance was 12.9 (2.8) years. It was lowest for inhalants (11.3 years) followed by heroin (12.3 years) and opioid pharmaceuticals (without prescription; 12.5 years).

Overall, 15.1 per cent of participants reported lifetime use, 10.3 per cent reported past year use, and 7.2 per cent reported use in the past month of any substance, the study found.

The most common substances used in the past year, after tobacco (4 per cent) and alcohol (3.8 per cent), were opioids (2.8 per cent), followed by cannabis (2 per cent) and inhalants (1.9 per cent). Use of non-prescribed pharmaceutical opioids was most common among opioid users (90.2 per cent).

On being asked, 'Do you think this substance is easily available for a person of your age' separately for each substance category, nearly half the students (46.3 per cent) endorsed that tobacco products and more than one-third of the students (36.5 per cent) agreed that a person of their age can easily procure alcohol products.

Similarly, for Bhang (21.9 per cent), ganja/charas (16.1 per cent), inhalants (15.2 per cent), sedatives (13.7 per cent), opium and heroin (10 per cent each), the students endorsed that these can be easily procured.

About 95 per cent of the children, irrespective of their grade, agreed with the statement that 'drug use is harmful'.

The rates of substance use (any) among boys were significantly higher than those of girls for substance use (ever), use in the past year and use in the past 30 days. Compared to grade VIII students, grade IX students were more likely, and grade XI/XII students were twice as likely to have used any substance (ever).

The likelihood of past-year use of any substance was also higher for grade IX students and for grade XI/XII students as compared to grade VIII students.

About 40 per cent of students mentioned that they had a family member who used tobacco or alcohol each. The use of cannabis (any product) and opioid (any product) by a family member was reported by 8.2 per cent and 3.9 per cent of students, respectively, while the use of other substances, such as inhalants/sedatives by family was 2-3 per cent, the study found.

A relatively smaller percentage of students reported use of tobacco or alcohol among peers as compared to among family members, while a higher percentage reported inhalants, sedatives, cannabis or opioid use among peers.

Children using substances (past year) compared to non-users reported significantly higher any substance use by their family members and peers.

There were 25.7 per cent students who replied 'yes' to the question 'conflicts/fights often occur in your family'. Most students also replied affirmatively to 'family members are aware of how their time is being spent' and 'damily members are aware of with whom they spend their time'.

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