Sonia Gandhi to host luncheon meet over presidential candidate today; Nitish Kumar won't attend

New Delhi, May 26: Congress president Sonia Gandhi will on Friday host a luncheon meet where deliberations on a consensus presidential candidate will take place.

The Congress leader has invited prominent opposition leaders for the meet in the Parliament House Library on a day that also marks the third anniversary of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, however, will not be there because of a prior engagement, sources said, adding that his party, the JD-U, would be represented by Sharad Yadav.

According to senior leaders, there will also be an informal meeting before the lunch.

The sources also said the Congress had not invited Delhi chief minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal.

CPI leader D Raja confirmed he would attend, while JD-U leader KC Tyagi said senior leaders of the party will be present.

Opposition party leaders, including Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury, are expected to attend.

Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee, who met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, will also attend.

The Trinamool Congress chief met Congress president Sonia Gandhi last week and conveyed that her party was in favour of a consensus candidate for the Presidential Election.

Among the names doing the rounds as the opposition's consensus candidates are of former governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi and former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar.

The term of President Pranab Mukherjee ends in July. The ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, which has a clear edge in the Presidential Election, has not given any inkling so far on its choice of candidate.

Gandhi has been contacting leaders opposed to the ruling BJP to evolve a consensus.

She has spoken to Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav and RJD chief Lalu Prasad and met JD-U leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah.

The Congress chief is also expected to meet Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati.

DMK leader Kanimozhi had invited Sonia Gandhi for her father and DMK chief M Karunanidhi's 94th birthday celebrations in Chennai on June 03, when another meeting of opposition leaders is likely to take place.

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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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