Modi govt may meet same fate as that of Indira's: Yashwant

January 31, 2016

Dona Paula (Goa), Jan 31: Veteran BJP leader Yashwant Sinha today tore into Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government, saying there is no dialogue and they may meet the same fate as the Indira Gandhi-led Congress which was drubbed in the elections after Emergency.

Sinha, who along with some other BJP veterans has been marginalised in the party, was speaking at a panel discussion at the 'Difficult Dialogues' conference here, where CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury also spoke.

"There is absolutely no scope of no dialogue... This is the great strength of Indian democracy. There will be aberrations here and there, there might be concerns about the present situation. But the great Indian society will take care of it and consign to dust those who do not believe in dialogue in India," Sinha said.

"The people of India will consign him to the dust, you just have to wait for the next elections," Sinha, who was finance minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, said without naming Modi.

Alluding to the general elections in 1977 when Congress was ousted from power, he said such a neglect (of dialogue) will make the government last "19 months", the same duration as the Emergency.

We all know how the people of India reacted to the Emergency which was the "most concerted democratic effort in our country to still the voice of dissent", he said.

Replying to intervention from Yechury on need to ensure that dialogue in the society doesn't get stifled, he said, "I would only say that the stifler is in for serious trouble."

The veteran BJP leader also rued the fact that Opposition was not letting Parliament function. Without naming, he took a potshot at a Congress leader, who he said never raised concerns on the GST Bill in the standing committee meetings but later raised objections.

Under Vajpayee, the NDA government was able to pass several important legislations with the help of dialogue (with opposition), Sinha said.

His onslaught comes on the same day when another BJP leader, actor-MP Shatrughan Sinha, said that veteran leaders Vajpayee, L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi "deserve much more than what they have been given".

"Currently these leaders including me are trapped between oppression and respect," Shatrughan said in Pune.

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Just wait and see.... within one year what happen Indian democracy..

BJP built on wrong ideology, wrong foundation. So tower can not stand on cracking foundation.

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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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