India skips China's Belt and Road summit following 'sovereignty' concerns over CPEC

May 14, 2017

New Delhi, May 14: No Indian delegation was seen at the opening ceremony of China's Belt and Road Forum addressed by Chinese President Xi Jinping, who delivered a keynote speech at the opening of the two-day meet for International Cooperation in Beijing today.

Xi said that the Belt and Road initiative should be an open one that will achieve both economic growth and balanced development. "We should build an open platform of cooperation and uphold and grow an open world economy."

China welcomes efforts made by other countries to grow open economies, participate in global governance and provide public goods, he said.

"Together we can build a broad community of shared interests," Xi added.

India boycotts belt and road forum

The Chinese president's remarks came after India on Saturday refused to be part of Beijing's One Belt One Road initiative maintaining its opposition to China's investment in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor that passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

Few Indian scholars attended the meeting today. Media was not permitted inside the conference hall, where the opening ceremony took place.

The general view was that India attending the forum might amount to surrendering its claim over the region.However, Beijing has repeatedly sought to allay New Delhi's fears, saying China will not change its position on the Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan.

External affairs ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay on Saturday had said, "No country can accept a project that ignores its core concerns on sovereignty and territorial integrity."

Xi Jinping also called for upholding the multilateral trading regime, advancing free trade areas and promoting liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment.

What is the conference about?

China is organising a two-day Belt and Road conference in Beijing that started today, which will be attended by 29 heads of states including Russian President Vladimir Putin, a US delegation, Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif, his Sri Lankan counterpart Ranil Wickrmasinghe, and will see the participation of over 100 countries.

India will not be participating in the summit and neither will Bhutan. Nepal on Saturday officially inked a deal with China on OBOR for development of cross-border connectivity.

The $46-billion CPEC is part of OBOR, Chinese President Xi Jinping's signature foreign policy initiative.

Why India is wary

Citing other problems, Baglay yesterday said, "We are of firm belief that connectivity initiatives must be based on universally recognised international norms, good governance, rule of law, openness, transparency and equality."

He also said that expansion and strengthening of connectivity was an integral part of India's economic and diplomatic initiatives, while referring to India's Act East policy.

The Act East policy focuses on the 10 nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and the Trilateral Highway project underway to link India, Myanmar and Thailand.

Go west policy

Baglay said that under India's Go West strategy, it engaged with Iran on the Chabahar Port and with Iran and other partners in Central Asia on the International North South Transport Corridor. India, Iran, and Afghanistan have signed a trilateral agreement to develop the Chabahar port that will will be vital to link south and central Asia.

He also referred to the Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal (BBIN) motor transport agreement saying it is an initiative that is aimed at enhancing logistics efficiencies in the South Asian region.

"We are also actively considering acceding to TIR (Transports Internationaux Routiers or International Road Transports) Convention," he said.

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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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