Chandy, Sushma worked in tandem

July 6, 2014

New Delhi, Jul 6: Hours before the media got a hint of the imminent evacuation of the Kerala nurses from strife-torn Iraq, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Thursday night walked into Kerala House here with a smile that no one could decipher.

Though he betrayed no strain, mediapersons gathered there speculated about the possible fallout on his political career if things went wrong.

But Chandy was a relieved man. He did not tell the waiting media why he was tension-free in that hour of crisis. By then, he had a definite word from External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj about the “good news” that the modalities of evacuation had been worked out in coordination with the contacts in the Middle East.

Chandy had already struck a chord with Swaraj in his first meeting and their concerted efforts had ensured victory. Swaraj was facing her first crisis as External Affairs Minister, and with the approaching Budget Session of Parliament, it would have been difficult for her and the government to tackle criticism in case of a slip-up.

The chief minister flew to Delhi on Wednesday night and held a series of discussions with Swaraj in two days, exerting pressure for the early evacuation of the nurses. Chandy was regularly updated on developments by the minister and senior officials. Chandy also knew that a prolonged crisis and some harm to the nurses would have put him in a spot. His detractors inside and outside the Congress would bay for his blood.

Moreover, adding to his stress was the fact that out of 46 nurses, 17 were from his home district and he personally knew many of their families. It was not just the nurses who rang him up from Iraq or their parents, but their relatives too who made calls. Everyone looked up to him for an early resolution.

With assurances from the negotiators in the Middle East and External Affairs Ministry officials, a tired Chandy caught up with sleep a bit early at 10 pm on Thursday, only to be woken up around midnight with calls from the nurses and their families. The calls ended around 5 am with Chandy patiently giving his assurance without letting out many details.

“How can I avoid these calls at midnight? They had their worries though I knew there was nothing to worry,” Chandy told an aide on Friday morning as news trickled in that the nurses would be freed.

As he walked into the conference hall of Kerala House to address the media for a second time on Friday afternoon, Chandy was all smiles and confident, accepting sweets from leaders of the Nurses’ Association.

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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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