Devotees throng Shani temple on Saturday after lifting of ban

April 9, 2016

Ahmednagar, Apr 9: Men and women made a beeline to sanctum sanctorum of famous Shani temple at Shingnapur here since morning to offer prayers on the first Saturday, a day traditionally devoted to the deity, after lifting of 400-year -old ban on entry of women into the shrine's core area.

The temple trust yesterday lifted the ban following Bhoomata Brigade's agitation against gender bias and the Bombay High Court order upholding the equal rights to worship. Soon after the temple trust announced the decision, some women devotees entered the sacred area and offered worship.

Later, Bhoomata Brigade leader Trupti Desai, who had led a sustained campaign over the issue, reached the temple located in western Maharashtra and offered prayers.

A smooth access to the hitherto prohibited area of the temple brought cheer to women devotees as they poured oil on the ancient black stone idol and offered flowers to the deity on Saturday, traditionally marked by prayers to Lord Shani and Lord Hanuman whose images are jointly installed at many temples.

However, the sarpanch (headman) of Shingnapur Balsaheb Bankar said that although the decision to open all gates of the temple to all devotees was taken to honour the high court order, he personally felt that the sentiments of the villages had been "hurt" by the development.

"An age old religious tradition to protect sanctity of the temple has been broken," Bankar told PTI.

The chief trustee of the temple Anita Shete said the trustees had taken the decision to uphold the high court directive and accordingly all devotees -- men and women -- would now have free access to the inner sanctum.

Desai, who waged the battle against gender bias at places of worship, yesterday declared the trustees' decision as "victory for women" as she went to Shingnapur to have darshan of the deity along with her activists.

She also appealed to boards of Trimbakeshwar and Mahalaxmi temples in Nashik and Kolhapur respectively to follow suit and stop gender discrimination against women.

Interestingly, Priyanka Jagtap and Pushpak Kewadkar, the two activists of breakaway faction of Bhoomata Brigade, happened to be the first two women to have darshan at the sacred "chauthara" (platform), after lifting of the centuries old ban on the entry of women there.

The two who have formed "Swaraj" brigade had parted ways with Desai alleging that her agitation had become publicity oriented with full focus on herself, relegating the cause for which the Bhoomata Brigade stood.

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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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