Gurgaon renamed as 'Gurugram'

Chandigarh, Apr 12: Gurgaon, the corporate hub of Haryana on the outskirts of Delhi, will now be known as 'Gurugram'.

The decision was taken by the BJP government claiming that people of the area have been making a demand in this regard.

An official spokesman said the decision to change the name was taken on the basis of the representations received in several fora that it would be appropriate to rename Gurgaon as 'Gurugram', an official spokesman said.

Legend has it that Gurgaon derived its name from the name of Guru Dronacharya, the master of archery in Mahabharata who tutored the Pandavas.

The village was given as gurudakshina to him by his students -- the Pandavas -- and hence it came to be known as Guru-gram, which in course of time is said to have got distorted to Gurgaon.

"Haryana is a historic land of the Bhagwat Gita and Gurgaon had been a centre of learning," the spokesman said.

"It had been known as Gurgaon since the times of Guru Dronacharya. Gurgaon was a great center of education where the princes used to be provided education.

Therefore, since long the people of the area had been demanding that Gurgaon be renamed as Gurugram," he reasoned.

Congress reaction to the decision was mixed.

While former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda welcomed it, his party spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala, who also hails from Haryana, criticised the decision.

Hooda said the change of name is appropriate and the proposal had come during his time also.

Surjewala said Gurgaon has an international branding and this is an exercise in pure superficiality.

The Haryana government also decided to rename Mewat district as Nuh.

Mewat, in fact, is a geographical and cultural unit and not a town. It is spread beyond Haryana in the adjoining states of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, the spokesman said.

The headquarters of Mewat district is Nuh town. The people of area and elected representatives had been demanding that its name be changed as Nuh, he said.
Hooda said Mewat's name should have been retained because it features prominently in freedom struggle.

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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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