Fuel price: People should reduce expenses, Raj Minister

Jaipur, Sept 11: Stoking a controversy, Rajasthan minister Rajkumar Rinwa on Monday advised people to reduce their expenses to deal with rising fuel prices, a comment slammed by the Congress as "arrogant" and "insensitive".

On a day when the Congress and other opposition parties held a nationwide protest, 'Bharat Bandh', against the rise in fuel prices, the minister said, "People do not understand that if fuel prices are rising they should cut down their expenses. They do not understand this."

Rinwa also said people do not understand that fuel prices are rising as consumption is increasing.

"The government is making efforts to reduce the fuel prices by reducing tax. Expenditure is being made in thousands of crores on flood relief all around (the country) for which money is required," he told reporters.

Fuel prices are regulated by the world market and the government has nothing to do with it, the minister of state for the devasthan department said.

Reacting to Rinwa's statement, Congress's Rajasthan chief Sachin Pilot said, "Such remarks from a BJP leader tell you they are very arrogant and they are insensitive to the needs of people."

"When people are suffering they are making it worse by such outlandish statements," he told reporters.

The BJP government in Rajasthan had on Sunday reduced four percentage points VAT on petrol and diesel in the state. The VAT on petrol was reduced from 30 to 26 per cent and from 22 to 18 per cent on diesel.

To lodge a protest on rising fuel prices, the Congress had announced to hold demonstrations and rallies in various districts, including state capital Jaipur, as part of its Bharat Bandh.

The bandh got a mixed reaction in Rajasthan where markets remained closed and Congress leaders and workers took out rallies.

Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje has termed the bandh call by the Congress and other opposition parties a 'drama', saying she took the decision to reduce VAT on diesel and petrol to provide relief to the people.

The chief minister, while addressing a public meeting in Hanumangarh district's Bhadra town as part of her Rajasthan Gaurav Yatra, said it was in her knowledge that the increase in the prices of fuel had affected the people's budget and therefore she took the decision.

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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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