No special arrangements for Trupti Desai at Sabarimala: Kerala cops

Agencies

November 15, 2018

Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 15: Kerala police said it will not give any special considerations for activist Trupti Desai who plans to visit the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple this weekend, the local news channels reports. Desai on Wednesday, in an email to the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, had requested the state to handle the security, stay and travel arrangements for the visit of seven activists of Bhumata Brigade, her Maharashtra based organisation.

Desai said she would visit the Sabarimala temple, which saw frenzied protests from devotees against the Supreme Court's decision to allow women of all ages to offer prayers, on November 17. The Lord Ayyappa shrine will re-open for the two-month-long Madala-Makkarvilakku puja on Saturday.

Desai, who spearheaded the campaign for women to be allowed into various religious places, including Shani Shingnapur temple, the Haji Ali Dargah, the Mahalakshmi Temple and the Trimbakeshwar Shiva Temple, in an email to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan sought security as she fears an attack on her life during her visit to the hill shrine.

"We will not return to Maharashtra without darshan at the Sabarimala temple," she said, adding, "We have faith in the government that it will provide security for us."

It is the responsibility of the state government and the police to provide protection and take us to the temple as the Supreme Court has allowed women of all ages to offer prayers at the shrine, she added.

The Chief Minister's Office had earlier forwarded the e-mail to the officials concerned.

Desai has also sent a mail to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to ensure security for her visit to the shrine.

Meanwhile, Rahul Easwar, president of the Ayyappa Dharma Sena, which is among the organisations protesting against the entry of women of all ages into the shrine, said Ayyappa devotees would resist through "Gandhian means", any attempt by Desai and her group to trek the holy shrine and offer prayers.

"We will lie down on the floor. We will protest and at all costs prevent them from offering prayers at the shrine", he said.

The temple had witnessed a string of protests from the main Opposition Congress, the BJP, the RSS and other right-wing outfits against the CPI(M)-led LDF government's decision to implement the September 28 apex court verdict, lifting the centuries-old ban on the entry of women in the 10-50 age group.

The shrine was opened for four days in October and two days this month for the monthly pujas when the protests were held.

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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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