Dr Veerendra Heggade to attend SDM global alumni meet in Dubai on Nov 6

October 22, 2015

Dubai, Oct 22: The first ever global meet of SDM college of Engineering and Technology Dharwad Alumni to be organized by Middle East chapter will be held on November 6 at Rixos Palm, Dubai.

Around 250 to 300 members from India, USA, UK, Nigeria, Qatar, Oman, Saudi, Kuwait and UAE will be participating in the programme which will include around 30 Faculty Members from Dharwad.

The entire endeavour has the blessings of Padmabhushan Dr. Veerendra Heggade who will also grace the occasion as chief guest. Dr. Shrikanth B. Vanakudre Principal SDMCET will also grace the occasion as guest of honour. Other dignitaries include Prof. Suresh Radder – Sr. Lab Instructor (American University of Sharjah) & Prof. V.K Parvati - Associate Professor.

To add to the colours to the event a musical Treat by the well known Praveen Godkhindi, who is also an alumni is being arranged which is followed by other cultural program and dinner. To make the mega event even more successful the organisers request the SDMites from around the world to come forward and register and enjoy the togetherness across batches under the umbrella of SDMites.

It is time of the year when SDM (Shri Dharmasthala MAnjunatheshwara) college of engineering and Technology, Dharwad, Alumni Middle East Chapter has decided to bathe in the surreal reincarnation of the impeccable past of their college days with the SDMites from around the world and rejoin in the ride of the past. So, the SDMites have started scheduling their journey of memories in search of the roots - Back to the Roots and relive the good old but golden days.

As Henry Ford said “Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success,” this Global SDMites meet wouldn’t have been possible without the earlier executive committees of coming together over the years and laying the foundation and milestones of the SDM Middle east chapter, thereby it’s momentous to acknowledge all the energies and sweat of their executive days.

Since its inception in 2009 the SDM Alumni Middle East Chapter has echoed in action sticking to the values and the principles of the SDM Institution. The word ‘Dharma’ traditionally means ritual, duty, righteousness and alms and touching the lives of people with a transformational directness that is unique. Taking these values ahead in practice the alumni have not only came together for fun in a foreign land but also added value to the togetherness with always initiating support towards the various social cause and turning the wishes into reality .

The activities included supporting the social cause, honouring the teachers and more over mentoring and supporting the new SDMites who would join them in Middle East. In this short span the group has initiated mega actions from organizing the first Middle East meet to the current first Global Middle East meet in the month of November.

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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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