Unrest on NIT Srinagar campus; outstation students protest, lathicharged

April 6, 2016

Srinagar, Apr 6: Unrest was witnessed again today at NIT Srinagar, the scene of last week's clash, with outstation students expressing a sense of insecurity and attempting to leave the campus, leading to a confrontation with police which resorted to lathicharge in which some were injured.

With the situation being tense, CRPF was tonight deployed at campus and Jammu and Kashmir government assured full security to the students from other states studying here.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh also called up Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and discussed with her the situation at NIT.

Some non-local students attempted to leave the campus and return to their home states, saying, they were "not feeling safe" inside the campus, a police official said.

Police personnel on duty at the NIT tried to reassure the students that they were safe inside the campus but they were not pacified, he said.

As the head of the security deployment was speaking to them, a few of the students allegedly resorted to sloganeering and even pushed him around, the official claimed.

He said the other police personnel then resorted to "lathicharge" to disperse the students who were "getting violent".

The situation, however, was brought under control shortly, the official said.

Outstation students, on the other hand, alleged that they were holding protests and were lathicharged by the police with brute forces and not allowed to move out of the NIT gate.

"We had sat on dharna and were demanding meeting with HRD officials. We held meeting with NIT administration and they agreed to the demand. We were allowed freely to move out the gate," said one of the students on condition of the anonymity.

"When we were going out of the campus as per the past practice, police did not allow us and resorted to cane-charge resulting in injuries to several students," he claimed.

Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh told PTI in Jammu tonight: "We assure security to the students of various states of the country studying in NIT Srinagar. Additional security of CRPF has been deployed at the campus."

Singh, who along with Minister of State (MoS) Education Priya Sethi, talked to Mehbooba, DGP K Rajendra and NIT Director, said "all measures are being taken by the administration of the NIT to instill confidence among these students and the issues raised by them are being resolved."

In Delhi, HRD ministry officials said they were in touch with the management of the institute and the Director of the NIT has spoken to the students so that normalcy prevails.

On Friday last, the campus had witnessed clashes between local and non-local students over India's defeat in the semi-final match in the World T20 tournament.

After the clashes, the NIT authorities had shut down the institute which was reopened yesterday.

"We take responsibility all the students of the country studying in NIT. We have put in place all the measures," the Deputy Chief Minister said.

Administration has held meeting with the NIT students to resolve the issue, Singh said, adding SSP Srinagar is camping in the area to ensure peace.

He said the outstation students are demanding security and postponement of exams.

"Director of NIT has said that the demands have been accepted," he said.

"I appeal to the students to call on my number 09419149494 in case they have any problems on any front particularly on the security. We will look into that," Deputy Chief Minister said.

"We assure the parents of these students that all measures have been taken for the safety of students," 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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