Hindi not an 'official' language in Kerala assembly!

Thiruvananthapuram, Jul 8: Hindi, which is India's national language, isn't an official language in the Kerala assembly, Deputy Speaker N. Sakthan told legislators who were taken aback.

Sakthan was occupying the chair in the assembly during question hour when opposition legislator Jameela Prakasam in her question to Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, spoke in Hindi.

She asked him what happened to his promise that he would increase the number of women police officials in the state police force from five percent to 10 percent.

At the end of his reply, Chennithala turned to Hindi and assured the house that his promise would become a reality soon.

Sakthan promptly intervened and pointed out that Hindi cannot be used in the house as it's not the official language.

According to him the official languages that can be used on the floor of the assembly include Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada and English.

However, Power Minister Aryadan Mohammed, known to be an authority on the rules and procedures of the assembly, said that Hindi has been used on the floor of the assembly previously .

But Sakthan said as per rule 305 use of Hindi is not allowed as it is not one of the approved languages.

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy noted that if what Sakthan said was true, then we have to change the rule and we should include Hindi. He said if it's not done, then it would send a bad message.

The discussion was resumed in the legislators' canteen where Congress legislator Benny Behenan said the use of Kannada was officially permitted in 1982 and he was there in the assembly that time.

Former speaker K.Radhakrishnan (2006-11) told IANS that during his tenure at a meeting of rules of procedure committee of the Kerala assembly, the issue of including Hindi was taken up.

At that time Aryadan Mohammed, who was then a legislator, asked if it's essential since there is no one who speaks in Hindi. Hence it was not taken up.

"Now if this government wishes to include Hindi, all what needs to be done is to convene the rules of procedure committee and get it approved," said Radhakrishnan.

When the discussion was going on, Sakthan walked in and told IANS: "Only because I informed that Hindi cannot be used as per the rule, all came to know about it. My intention was to highlight this, because sitting in the chair, one has to follow the rules and that's all I did."

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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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