Cong to gherao Parliament on May 6

New Delhi, Apr 30: Amid escalating confrontation with the government, Congress today announced a gherao of Parliament on May 6 to highlight issues like Uttarakhand, drought and the campaign of "deceit and deliberate lies" against opposition.

Party chief Sonia Gandhi, Vice President Rahul Gandhi and a host of other leaders and party workers would march from Jantar Mantar early morning on next Friday to gherao Parliament.

Last year, the Congress had organised a rally at Ram Lila grounds on April 19 to protest the controversial Land acquisition bill which it had dubbed as "anti-farmer and pro-corporate".

Before that Sonia Gandhi had led a march of opposition leaders to Rashtrapati Bhawan on the issue.

The announcement was made by party's chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala, who said the gherao would be the culmination of a "save democracy" march.

He said it is being undertaken in the wake of attempts by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government to "topple" duly elected governments as was witnessed in the "conspiracies" in Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

In an obvious reference to the AgustaWestland issue, he said the march was also against the "drama" being enacted by the BJP and the government and the campaign of "deceit and deliberate lies" launched by it.

Surjewala said that the march was also to highlight the drought and the agrarian crisis that has forced a spate of suicides by farmers and has affected 40 crore people spread over large number of states.

A party leader said workers from adjoining states of Delhi like Haryana, Rajasthan and western Uttar Pradesh would participate in the protest action.

In Jaipur, PCC President Sachin Pilot said the Rajasthan unit of the party will participate in the march.

"We have seen the undemocratic face of the Modi government in Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand," he said.

Sonia Gandhi, who took over as party chief in March 1998, had that year led a march of party workers in Delhi on the issue of price rise. That time the A B Vajpayee government was at the helm.

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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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