J-K CM Mehbooba Mufti meets Parrikar, raises Handwara firing issue

April 13, 2016

New Delhi, Apr 13: Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti met defence minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday and raised the issue of Handwara firing, in which two Kashmiri youths were allegedly killed by security forces during clashes.

Parrikar assured Mufti that a probe will be initiated and the culprits will be punished.

In another incident, a 50-year-old woman wounded in army firing in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district on Tuesday succumbed to her injuries at a hospital on Wednesday, taking the total death toll to three.

Mehbooba, who is on her maiden visit to the national capital after assuming the post of Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, met Parrikar and Union urban development minister Venakiah Naidu.

Describing the incident as “very unfortunate”, Mufti said “I spoke to the defence minister. He assured me that a probe will be initiated and the culprits will be punished.”

“At the same time, the family will be compensated. Such incidents should not happen in the future,” she said after meeting Parrikar.

Two youth, including a budding cricketer, were reportedly killed in Handwara when army personnel opened fire to disperse a stone-pelting mob targeting their bunker.

The incident took place after reports surfaced that some army personnel had allegedly molested a girl returning from school.

Police investigations have so far indicated that no such incident had taken place and it was an attempt by some miscreants to create disturbance for removing an army bunker located in the Handwara town, sources said.

The army has ordered an inquiry while the Jammu and Kashmir police registered a criminal case and has begun investigating the incident.

The incident triggered more protests in Handwara and was echoed in Srinagar and Pulwama districts of Kashmir.

Mehbooba Mufti had on Tuesday said the security personnel involved in the killings will be handed exemplary punishment and such incidents “cannot” be tolerated.

She said such tragic incidents have a “negative impact” on the efforts of the government and the political leadership aimed at consolidating the peace efforts.

The security forces must exercise maximum restraint and adhere to the Standing Operating Procedure (SOP) while dealing with the public protests as incidents of innocent killings cannot be tolerated, Mufti said.

Mehbooba Mufti also raised the issue of handing over civilian land from the army to the state government.

Later, she met the Urban development minister to discuss projects undertaken by the state and central government.

Mufti had met finance minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday.

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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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